righting the wrongs of the past
by obeytherandomness
Summary: Konoha has been destroyed and all of the ninjas have died. The last few to die are Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto. Naruto calls on a goddess to request that he be allowed to return to his past in order to stop the loss of innocent lives. sasunaru plz comment
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer:I don't own any of the characters for the anime series for Naruto

* * *

Today was the day that Konoha would fall. Actually the town had already been destroyed, but it was the remaining survivors that kept it alive. There were few survivors remaining and they were slowly dwindling into nothing as the war continued. Among these survivors was a pink haired girl with green eyes, a raven haired boy with red eyes, and a blonde haired boy with blue eyes. Each was in their twenties and each was fighting with all the strength they had, but they knew it was a lost cause.

Sakura, the pink haired girl, was busy tending to the wounds of Sasuke, the raven haired one when she looked up to see Naruto dash in front of her. She screamed as a man stabbed him with a poisoned kunai and Sasuke sprung to his feet ignoring the pain that his wounded shoulder caused him. He caught Naruto with his uninjured arm and lowered him to the ground as the man laughed. Sasuke stood and grinned wickedly at the man as he began to send more chakra to his eyes creating the Mangekyou Sharingan. With this technique he sent the man through 72 hours of a living hell and then killed him with a quick slash of his sword.

"Naruto can you hear me?" asked Sakura as she pulled him onto her lap. His body was convulsing in pain, but he opened his eyes to look at her anyway. There were two sighs of relief as Sasuke had just crouched next to him as well.

Naruto looked at the both of them before saying, "I'm going to die," with a small smile on his face, "I'm glad that I was able to spend my last moments with you guys."

"You shouldn't talk like that Naruto," said Sakura as she tried to hold back her tears.

"Yeah Naruto," said Sasuke as he reached out and stroked his cheek, "You're not going to die. We're going to survive and then tomorrow we'll celebrate your birthday together."

"We've lost," Naruto paused to cough up blood, "We've lost this battle Sasuke, Sakura. There's no way we could win now. We're too badly hurt and we're too tired. We cannot fight much longer." At this point Sakura was sobbing and Sasuke was clenching his fists so tightly that his nails began to draw blood.

"Naruto you're not supposed to be so pessimistic. You're the optimistic one on the team," sobbed Sakura.

"I still believe there is hope Sakura," answered Naruto, "This battle may be lost and we may die today, but I still believe that we can win it."

"I don't understand Naruto," said Sasuke, but as he looked down Naruto's eyes were lifeless. His body was thrust into Sasuke's hands as Sakura stood and ran behind him with tears still falling from her face. He could hear loud banging noises in the background and he knew that it was Sakura's super strength. He began to shake Naruto's lifeless form continuously trying to wake him up. "Come on Naruto wake up," he said but his voice cracked and his eyes became blurry with tears. Then the banging of Sakura's fists stopped. He turned his head to see behind him with Naruto still clutched in his arms. What he saw was Sakura's lifeless form falling in the middle of many dead ninjas with many more alive ninjas surrounding her.

Sasuke looked back to Naruto and placed him on the ground. "Naruto," he said, "I never told you this before now. I don't think I was ever really planning on telling you, but I want to tell you before I die." He leaned forward and placed a kiss on Naruto's icy cold lips and whispered, "I love you. I always have and I always will." Then he stood and ran into the middle of the fight. He killed many of the ninjas who fought him until one exceptionally strong one finally caught him in the heart. He smiled as his soul left him.

* * *

Naruto awoke in an endless black abyss. "Where am I?" he asked himself as he looked around to try and find any clues to tell him his answer. He found nothing.

"You are nowhere," spoke a voice behind him. He turned quickly to see a beautiful woman with black hair and a red robe that framed her body nicely.

"What do you mean?" he asked her.

"You are between space which means that you are nowhere." She spoke again.

Naruto nodded his head as he looked around again. "Who are you?" he asked.

"I am the goddess of time and all things good," she said.

Naruto smiled happily as he heard this. Though his smile wasn't as big as they used to be when he was a child. He had grown out of them when Sasuke had left the village. They weren't real smiles anyway. They were just masks that covered up his pain. "Then you answered my call?" he asked. She nodded her head and he bowed deeply to her and said, "Thank you."

"You should not thank me yet little one," she said, "as I have yet to give you what you want from me. Please tell me what is your name and why have you called out to me."

"My name is Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, I am the successor for the Kyuubi no Youko, and I have asked you to come here because I want to be sent back to when I was younger."

The goddess looked skeptical as she heard the request. "And why should I grant this request when so many others have asked the same before you?" she asked.

"I do not wish for this to make my own life better. I just thought that so many people suffered needlessly and that if I go back in time I could save them. Perhaps I could even stop this war from starting," he answered quietly as he remembered the deaths of so many of his friends and others that he had never known. "Of course I am willing to give anything that you may want from me in return for this."

The goddess smiled as she listened to the boy's reasons. So many people before him had asked for this to change a mistake that they had made in their life in order to make it better. She had never met anyone so pure as to want to go back in time to make other lives better. "There is no need for payment, little one, because gods, goddesses, and demons have all been given my consent to move freely through time at least once without any payment, but they have to have good reason. Your reasons are pure hearted so I will grant you this wish."

Naruto smiled again, but then his smile turned into a frown. "Is it possible for me to be two others with me?" he asked quietly.

Again the goddess looked wary. "Who would you like to bring with you?" she asked.

"They are two of my team mates and I put my utter trust in them. They are Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke."

"Why do you want to bring them with you?"

"Sakura is like a big sister to me. She always looks out for me, and," he paused for a moment then continued, "I used to think of Sasuke as a brother too, but now I know that my affections to him are different. I've realized that I love him…I guess this is my selfish request, but I will still be willing to give anything to allow them to come along with me."

Again the goddess was surprised. She had seen this boy's life. She had seen that he had to give up many things just to receive something. Perhaps it was time he received something without truly having to give anything. "I will grant both of your requests, little one," his eyes lit up, "and your payment will be that you have to live your life over again as do they."

"Thank you so much," he said with a very deep bow.

The goddess smiled. "You will still be able to do every jutsu that you were once able to, but you still have to train your body to bring it back to its old strength," he nodded, "Now be off with you," and with a wave of her hand Naruto fell unconscious.

* * *

Sasuke awoke with a start and he began to cry. Why had he been the only one to survive when both Naruto and Sakura were dead? He didn't even bother to hide his tears any longer as he used to. He just sat in the bed, which he didn't recognize, and cried.

"Sasuke, sweetie," came a woman's voice from the doorway, "What's wrong?" Sasuke's head shot up so fast that he thought he might get whiplash. He knew that voice. He would never forget that voice. There, coming towards him, was his mother. Sasuke looked around the room and realized that it was, in fact, his old room. He hadn't been here in so long that he didn't remember any of it. As he was looking around he caught a glimpse of his tiny 6 year-old body and jumped in shock. His mother crouched right in front of him and pulled him into a hug. "Sasuke? Did you have a bad dream?"

He nodded his head quietly and wrapped his tiny arms as far around his mother's waist that he could reach. Perhaps he was just dreaming all of that, but it seemed so real for some reason. His mother began to rock him back and forth while stroking his hair to make him calm down. He remembered Naruto doing this for him a couple of times when he would have horrible nightmares and he would do the same for Naruto. Could it really have just been a dream?

"Do you feel better now?" his mother asked as she stopped her rocking. He nodded and pulled his head back so he could wipe away his tears. She smiled and took out her handkerchief to help Sasuke clear away his tears. "Now that you're feeling better we should go down to breakfast so you aren't late to school." Sasuke nodded and followed her down the stairs.

* * *

In another part of town, closer to the ninja school, Naruto woke up in his old, dirty apartment. He grimaced as he looked at the mess. Contrary to popular belief, it was not littered with old ramen cups and dirty clothes. In truth Naruto cleaned his apartment every day, but every day the villagers would come back and destroy it again. He hated messes, but right now he could not be bothered by it. He was too happy by the fact that he was six again. That the goddess had granted his wish. He jumped from his bed, making sure not to touch the broken glass that littered his floor from the window, and stretched his small body. He would have to train a lot to get back the strength that he used to have, but he didn't mind, his fights didn't rely on strength. They relied on his deadly accuracy.

He turned to a door and opened it to reveal a small closet that stood out with orange. He cringed at the sight of all those ugly shirts. He wasn't quite old enough to get that disgusting orange jumpsuit, and for that he was happy. Naruto didn't really like orange. He thought it was beautiful on sunrises and sunsets, but orange clothes were not beautiful. The only reason he would wear the vile things was because he could not buy any other color from the shopkeepers. He dug through his closet and finally pulled out a white shirt with an orange swirl. It would have to do. It was the closest he could get to what he wanted to wear at the moment. Ever since he started getting more respect from the villagers he had changed his style. He had tried many different styles before he finally decided on wearing white clothes. Now white was his favorite color. He wore it as often as he could even though it was almost as bad for a ninja as orange.

He pulled on the white shirt and blue pants before heading out the door to see if Sasuke and Sakura still remembered him. He didn't even bother to try and find something to eat for breakfast because he knew that the only things he had in his fridge was spoiled milk and ramen. He had grown out of his ramen craze and now didn't like to eat it for every meal. He still loved ramen, but if he ate it too much his stomach would become ill and he would feel like his was going to be sick. So he left without breakfast. There was a soft click as the door shut, and Naruto walked away.


	2. Chapter 2

Sasuke had just arrived outside of the school when he heard a loud, "Sasuke-kun!" His whole body tensed as he heard the squeal and he had to stop himself from running away as one thought ran through his head, 'fan girls!' He forced himself to keep walking slowly towards the school as he heard the sound of running feet following him. Finally the owner of the squealing voice caught up to him. He turned to see long pink hair flowing around a face with bright green eyes. He recognized her as Sakura from his class, but he also remembered that she had been in his dreams. "Sasuke," she said quietly this time. This confused him because there was no kun at the end when just moments ago she had used the ending.

"What?" he asked her.

"Do you remember me?" she asked quietly as if it were a great secret.

"Of course," he said, "You are in my class."

"That's not what I mean," she mumbled, "Perhaps I'm the only one that remembers." At this Sasuke looked at her as though she were crazy.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Nothing," she sighed, "Have you seen Naruto? I have to talk to him about something."

"You know very well that he never comes to school on his birthday," he answered.

Sakura's eyes seemed to light up. "You do remember the future!" she said excitedly.

"What?" he asked.

"You have to remember the future if you remember Naruto's birthday is today. He didn't tell us until we were at least jounins."

Sasuke's eyes widened in realization. "I thought that was just a dream!" he gasped, "Do you think that Naruto will remember us too?"

"I hope so," she sighed, "It just wouldn't be the same if Naruto didn't remember." Suddenly a blonde blur ran past them then skidded to a halt just before them. He turned and ran up to Sasuke and hid behind him. "What's wrong Naruto?" asked Sakura as she saw his fearful blue eyes look at her then looked in front of them where a whole group of villagers were running towards them like mad men.

"Get away from Uchiha-san you monster!" they yelled angrily at him. Sakura's eyes seemed to darken in anger as the villagers' angry cries got closer. Some of them were even holding ninja weapons.

However before she could say anything Sasuke grabbed his own kunai out of his pocket and held it before him as he settled into a defensive position. "What do you want?" he growled through his clenched teeth.

Sakura, seeing that Sasuke had everything under control, turned back to Naruto with a kind smile. "Naruto, are you hurt?" she asked. He nodded and thrust his hand towards her. His hand had been crushed as someone earlier had stepped on it.

"Can you heal it Sakura?" he asked.

"Of course I can. You're looking at the next best medic nin," she smiled triumphantly as she brought his hand closer to her. She waited for Naruto to show her some sign that he knew of the future. He smiled the smile that only he could accomplish and with knowing eyes he nodded. She smiled and pushed Naruto in front of her to hide her knowledge as she began to heal his hand. "Is that the only damage?" she asked quietly.

Naruto shook his head and smiled, "I was able to get away before they did anything else," he said, "You know I am the fastest ninja that there ever was."

Sakura smiled, but checked him for any other injuries with her jutsu anyway. He just shrugged as he remembered that she had always been overprotective of him ever since they had become brother and sister. When they turned back all of the villagers were running away in fear. "What did you do?" Sakura asked.

"I just told them just what we would do to them if they ever hurt Naruto again," Sasuke shrugged. Sakura smiled and shook her head and Naruto laughed his loud uncaring laugh. "Why didn't you defend yourself?" he asked.

Naruto's smile left his face and he said, "I didn't want to kill them." Both Sakura and Sasuke sighed. They knew Naruto didn't like to kill, but his style of fighting made it so that almost everyone he fought died.

"How did we get here?" asked Sakura trying to change the subject.

Naruto's eyes lit up happily. "I asked the goddess of time and all things good if we could go back in time and maybe change the future," he said happily.

"You did that?" asked Sakura surprised. "How?"

"I just called out to her, and she was really nice. I asked her if we could go back to the past and she said yes. She was really pretty too." he said happily, but then his face took on a more serious tone, "Sasuke, this year your whole family is going to be killed," Sasuke tensed, "What do you want to do about it?"

"Nothing," he growled clenching his hands into fists, "Those people are bastards who are going to try to attack the Hokage. Itachi was right to kill them all." Naruto frowned at this, but accepted it as an answer.

"Alright Sasuke," he said just as the bell rang calling them to class, "let's go, or we'll be late!" he yelled as he ran towards the school.

* * *

The day of the clan massacre arrived and Naruto was the only one not at school. He had told Iruka that he wasn't feeling real well and Iruka told him to go home. Of course, Naruto had lied to them. He wasn't going to his house; he was going to Sasuke's. He had already trained his body enough that he was well hidden within the mansion walls where he waited for Itachi to start the attack. He watched as Itachi killed everyone and just as he was getting ready to kill Sasuke's parents Naruto jumped out of his hiding place and blocked the attack. Itachi jumped back as he thought that the ANBU had come to stop him, but he was surprised to see one lone boy. Both Sasuke's parents were out cold on the ground because they had been knocked out so that it would be easier to kill them without a struggle. "What are you doing here?" asked Itachi.

"I've come to stop you," he said calmly.

Itachi smirked, "You're too late. I already killed almost all of the clan. I just have to kill these two and then it will be all over."

"I don't care about the other people. I've been here since before you started killing them anyway," was Naruto's answer, "I'm here to stop you from killing theses two."

"Why?" growled Itachi.

"No child should have to live without their parents," answered Naruto, "Besides; now that almost all of the Uchiha clan is dead there is no way that Uchiha-san would be stupid enough to attack the Hokage."

Itachi shook his head, "Sorry kid. I have orders from the council themselves to kill all of the Uchiha clan, and now that you're here I have to kill you too."

"And then you are ordered to join the Akatsuki and be a spy. You weren't planning on doing as you were told anyway. You were going to go against what the council wanted by leaving Sasuke alive right?" Itachi's eyes widened as he heard how much Naruto knew about his plan.

"How do you know all that?" he asked as he put his weapon forward in an attacking position, "and speak the truth or I just might have to cut you down where you stand.

Naruto smiled at him as he pulled out his own sword that he had made himself. "I know this because I am not stupid. I am also very close to the Hokage and can sometimes overhear a few words that are to my advantage at later times. Now please put your weapon away."

Itachi looked skeptical for a moment before he put his kunai away and said, "Fine I'll leave them alive. I have to go now though. I don't want my brother to come in. I was planning on torturing him, but I don't want to so..."

Naruto cut him off by saying, "I understand. I won't try to stop you, but I was wondering if you still have the orders from the council."

"Yes. I was supposed to burn it after I left Konoha so that the Akatsuki wouldn't find it. Why?"

"I need it to prove my innocence to the council. Since I'm going to stay I will probably be accused of helping you. I won't tell them that you gave it to me though." He sheathed his sword and Itachi pulled out a paper that had his orders on it. He handed it over to Naruto and then he left. Naruto stuffed the letter into his pocket and turned to Sasuke's parents and started checking them over for any serious injuries. There weren't any. It seemed that Itachi had knocked them out without giving them a chance to fight back. He probably did the same with all the other people.

There was a gasp at the door and Naruto looked up to see Sasuke standing there with wide eyes and Sakura had her hands in front of her face. "What are you doing here Naruto?" he asked. He moved somewhat in front of Sakura and drew himself into a defensive position.

Naruto smiled and shook Sasuke's dad. "It's time to wake up sir," he mumbled. When his dad began to wake up he moved to his mom and did the same. Now Sasuke's eyes were almost like dinner plates, and Naruto couldn't help, but chuckle.

As Mikoto began to awaken Naruto felt a hard punch to his face. He hit the wall and spat out blood. At first he thought it was Sasuke that hit him, but when he looked up his dad was standing before him. "How dare you touch my wife you monster," he growled as he kicked Naruto in the stomach. Naruto gasped for air as more blood was coughed out of his mouth. Uchiha-san pulled his hand back to punch and Naruto closed his eyes to withstand the pain, but the hit never came. When he opened his eyes he saw Sasuke standing in front of him with his father's fists caught in his hand.

"He just saved your lives and you try to beat him up for it," he growled as he let Uchiha-san's hand go. Uchiha-san looked as though he had seen a ghost. Behind him Mikoto began to stand up with the help of Sakura.

"Get out of my way Sasuke. I bet that he participated in the massacre of the Uchiha clan. He probably helped Itachi!" his voice was steadily getting louder.

"Naruto would never do that!" yelled Sasuke.

"Oh yeah. How do you explain all the people who were killed by this demon? Even the fourth Hokage was killed by him. I bet that the blood on his face is the blood of the dead Uchiha's outside this house!"

"Naruto is not that demon. Besides the demon attacked the village because we attacked its kits. He was angry."

"That demon has poisoned your mind! He attacked us. We had nothing to do with it! You have no right to accuse me of anything!" He went to punch Sasuke, but again his hand was caught, but this time it was caught by Naruto.

"This blood on my face is from Itachi's sword when I blocked his attack on you guys. Konoha ninjas attacked Kyuubi's kits and he got so angry, but his anger only allowed someone to capture him and use him for his their gain. And you know what? That someone was an Uchiha wanting more power just like you. However, now that you don't have anyone to back you up you cannot even hope to defeat the Hokage, and even if you tried I can promise you that I will personally torture you for it. The same goes for if you ever attack my friends again." Naruto's growl seemed almost feral and his eyes grew into slits as it once had when Kyuubi had tried to take control of him. Uchiha-san stepped back and Naruto turned to Mikoto allowing his eyes to soften. "Are you alright Mikoto-san?" he asked politely.

Mikoto stared in shock for a few moments before she allowed herself to come back to her senses. She nodded, but did not answer any further. Instead it was Sakura who said, "She doesn't seem to be injured. I'm sure she'll be fine."

"I'm glad," he said with a big grin. He turned to Sasuke and said, "I have to go home now. It's late and I'm a little tired. Bye." He waved to both Sakura and Sasuke and then left.

* * *

The next day Naruto was called to face council and the Hokage alone, but when he was called he was with Sasuke and Sakura and they refused to let him go without them. So together they went to face the council. When they arrived two ANBU members who were standing outside the door stopped them. "Only Uzumaki Naruto is allowed to enter."

Sakura grabbed Naruto's hand and said, "He won't be going in there without us. " Sasuke nodded as he stepped slightly in front of them.

The ANBU looked at each other and then one disappeared. Only a moment later the ANBU returned. He gestured for them to go in. Inside the room all of the council was waiting with the Hokage for them to come in. "Uzumaki Naruto," said the old man.

"You are accused of participating in the massacre of the great Uchiha clan," said the old woman.

"How do you plead?" the old man again.

"Not guilty," answered Naruto in a voice that was much too old for a 6 year old child to use. It was evident that the Hokage realized this because there was a small frown on his face.

"Do you have any proof?" smirked Uchiha-san.

"Do you?" asked Naruto. He had asked Sakura and Sasuke not to talk at all when they were with him. He loved that they were giving him support, but he didn't want them to get themselves into trouble by trying to help him.

"Yes I do," said Uchiha-san letting some cockiness into his voice. "You were at the Uchiha compound during the massacre, and you had the blood of my family on your face. There is also you're previous crimes to take into consideration."

Naruto could feel Sasuke's anger radiating off of him so he leaned back and grabbed his hand to tell him to calm down. "What are my previous crimes?"

"You almost destroyed all of Konoha and you killed the fourth Hokage," Uchiha's smirk grew even wider as though he had won.

Naruto let out a growl as he let his anger control him before pushing it back down. He rarely got angry, but Uchiha-san was just getting on his last nerve. "As I told you last night, Uchiha-san, the blood on my face was from Itachi's sword when I blocked his attack on you guys. Konoha ninjas attacked Kyuubi's kits and he got angry, but his anger only allowed someone to capture him and use him for his their gain. And that someone was an Uchiha wanting more power just like you. And one more thing. I am not the Kyuubi. My father sealed him inside of me with a jutsu that took his life," there was a collective gasp that ran throughout the room. One man stood to try and contradict his claim, but before he could Naruto pulled a piece of paper. "This is my birth certificate and the names on it are Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina."

"That still doesn't prove your innocence!" hissed Uchiha-san.

Now it was Naruto's turn to smirk. "That's true, but this does," he pulled out another sheet of paper, "and it proves Itachi's innocence as well. I'll read it out loud. 'Uchiha Itachi, captain of the ANBU, you are hereby order by the council of Konoha to eliminate all of the Uchiha clan. There will be no survivors,' and every signature is on here except for that of the Hokage and Uchiha-san himself." There were many defeated sighs and angry growls that ran throughout the room. Both the Hokage and Uchiha-san had wide eyes and Sasuke and Sakura were now also smirking in victory as well.

"How dare you do something like this!" yelled the Hokage as he stood up.

"We were only doing what was best for Konoha," answered the old man.

"We were preventing him from assassinating you and taking your name," the old woman said this time.

"Then bring him before the court. Judge him before the court. Don't order someone to kill a whole family and then blame them for it. And you blamed someone who was completely innocent when you knew he was completely innocent!" all of the council members seemed to shrink back as the Hokage's words hit them. "Now leave my room." Everyone began to leave, but just as Naruto was at the door the Hokage called for him.

"Yes old man?" he said.

"How did you know that Itachi was innocent?" Hokage asked in a serious tone, but his eyes seemed to lighten up as Naruto reverted to a more childish way of speaking.

"Itachi told me when I got in the way of him killing Uchiha-san," he smiled, "Can I go now old man?" The Hokage smiled and waved them off. Naruto left the room laughing about all of the council's faces when he ratted them out.

* * *

sorry about all the Uchiha-san but I can't remember his first name


	3. Chapter 3

For the next few years anytime that wasn't spent at the school was spent at Sasuke's house. As soon as Mikoto had heard that Naruto was the son of Kushina, who was a great friend of hers, she welcomed him easily into her home. However, Uchiha-san spent most of his time avoiding even making eye contact with Naruto. Any moment they were in the same room together he would either find a reason to insult Naruto or just glare at him. Time spent at the Uchiha manner was either spent training or playing and listening to music. When they were older they had opened a small restaurant that had a piano in a corner of its dining room. All three could play the piano, but it seemed as though Naruto was the best at it. Each of them also had their own instrument that they played. Naruto had the violin, Sasuke had the guitar, and Sakura had the flute.

The three of them trained a lot during the years. They had almost returned to the strength they had when they were older, but they remained in the same places in their class. Naruto was the idiot of the year, Sasuke was the rookie of the year, and Sakura was somewhere in between. They made sure to remain in these places because they did not want to be put on separate teams.

Today was the last day that they would have to come to this school. It was their graduation day. Naruto had stayed at Sasuke's house the night before so they went to school together. Naruto was wearing a white sleeveless shirt that cut just above his stomach – now that he no longer had the seal on his stomach he liked to show off his skinny figure using tighter clothes – with white gloves that started at the elbow and ended at his wrist all of this was covered in a long-sleeve mesh shirt that hooked around his thumbs. He wore loose fitting white pants that hung on his waist, but were tight enough to not fall any lower. On his lower left pant leg was a black insignia that looked like flames, but if you looked close enough you would see that it's actually the nine-tailed fox. On his right thigh he wore a black shuriken holder and strapped to his left hip was a white sword.

Sasuke wore a black sleeveless shirt that buckled in the front and three belts hung around his waist. One belt was keeping his black pants up around his waist, another held a black sword, and the other concealed many explosive tags. His pants were loose, but not baggy and his black weapons pouch was on his right thigh. On the back of his shirt was an Uchiha symbol.

On their way to school they met up with Sakura. She hadn't stopped wearing pink, but now it was more of a hot pink then the bright pink she used to wear. Her hair was cut short again and it was held back by the headband that Ino had given her. She wore a low cut t-shirt that didn't show off too much. Under it she wore a black mesh shirt that reached her elbows she wore a short skirt that had a slit up the left side with a pair of black shorts underneath it. She had her weapons pouch strapped onto her waist and right next to it was a pouch with many bottles of herbs in it.

"Naruto, why are you walking with your eyes closed?" asked Sakura as she fell into step with the two of them.

"He's had his eyes closed ever since we left the mansion," said Sasuke.

"I'm training," answered Naruto.

"With your eyes closed?" asked Sasuke.

"You never know when you're eyes will stop working, teme," answered Naruto.

"Dobe."

"Naruto. You aren't going blind are you?" asked Sakura with concern.

At that Naruto giggled a little. "No, Sakura, but in the future I will have times when I cannot use my eyes. I thought I might train now so that if the time ever comes along again I'll be ready." Sakura nodded. There was a long pause as they walked peacefully through the road. "Should I fail the exam?" asked Naruto.

"Of course not dobe. If you fail then you won't be in our group. Don't be so stupid," grumbled Sasuke.

"You forget, teme, I failed last time. I want to know if I should fail this time to get Mizuki to target me to get the scroll," said Naruto as he opened his eyes to see the school was just before them.

"No," answered Sasuke, "We don't want to take the chance. We'll just watch him after the exams." Naruto nodded as they walked to their class.

After the exams all three of them had passed. Both Sasuke and Sakura had made perfect bunshins and Naruto had made one that just barely passed. He was actually surprised by how hard it was to make the clone. After he learned how to make the real clones he hadn't really taken the time to learn how to do the illusions and he still hadn't learned it well enough to make a perfect one, but he was able to make one that would help him pass.

* * *

After the exam Mizuki had disappeared and the three of them had decided to split up to look for him. If either of them found him they would call the others using the mind link that they had made when they were older. They could talk to each other without actually saying anything, but they couldn't force themselves into the others minds.

Naruto was walking in the middle of the street when he was stopped by Mizuki. "Is there something wrong Mizuki-sensei?" he asked out loud as he called out to the others silently.

"I just want to talk to you about something. Why don't we walk together?" he said with a friendly smile. Naruto smiled back as he heard Sasuke say, _"We're on our way Naruto."_

They walked together for a little bit before Mizuki turned to him and said, "He's annoying isn't he?"

"Who Mizuki-sensei?" asked Naruto.

"Sasuke," was Mizuki's answer, "He's always getting everything he wants and he's cocky. It must be annoying to you who had to work for everything you ever had."

"Yea," growled Naruto. In his head he was laughing at Mizuki's stupidity. Almost everybody knew that Sasuke and Naruto were like brothers. Apparently Mizuki isn't very good at paying attention.

"I know a way you could learn a jutsu that not even Sasuke knows," said Mizuki lowering his voice to a whisper.

"Really?"

"Yea. All you have to do is get the secret scroll from the Hokage's office and read it. It has a whole lot of great jutsus." Naruto's eyes lit up as he sensed Sasuke and Sakura close by.

"_Can you believe it?" _he thought, _"He's still trying to trick me into stealing that scroll." _He heard two laughs in the back of his mind as he listened to Mizuki tell him about all the plans he had to get the scroll.

* * *

Naruto was waiting in the secret place that Mizuki had so kindly told him about with the scroll opened in front of him. He looked up as he sensed Mizuki come closer. He knew that both Sasuke and Sakura were waiting somewhere within the trees for his signal.

"Good job Naruto," he said with a smirk on his face, "Now give me the scroll."

"But I can't learn anything from the scroll if you have it," said Naruto, "How will I get any stronger?"

"You think that this village actually wants you to be strong demon?" asked Mizuki.

"Wh-what do you mean?" asked Naruto. Even though he had known this was coming, it still hurt to see such hatred in people as was shown in Mizuki's eyes.

"Everyone knows except you. They're trying to hide it from you even now. They'd do anything to shut me up," he said.

"What are you talking about Mizuki-sensei?"

"The decree that no one can tell you that the nine-tailed fox is inside you. The fox-spirit that destroyed our village has taken over your body. You are the nine-tailed fox," Naruto could hear Sasuke growling in the back of his mind, and the Inner Sakura was yelling obscenities, "They've all been sneaking around. Hiding things from you your whole life. Didn't you think it was strange how they treated you? Like dirt. Like they hated you for just being alive."

"No," said Naruto gripping his head. It hurt so much and Mizuki just wouldn't shut up.

"That's right you will never be accepted in this village. Even your class mates hate your guts."

Sasuke had had enough. He jumped out of his hiding place and launched himself towards Mizuki. Mizuki wasn't expecting it so he wasn't able to move in time. Sasuke pierced one of his kunai through Mizuki's left shoulder. He howled in pain as Sasuke brought his foot up to kick him off the branch. Sasuke jumped down to Mizuki and stood over him with a kunai to his throat. "Time to go to the Hokage's office, _Mizuki-sensei._" The last two words were dripping with anger.

* * *

Mizuki growled curse words all the way to the Hokage's office. When they got there Mizuki pulled himself away from them and ran inside.

"Hokage-sama!" he yelled.

"Yes?" asked the Hokage as Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto walk in.

"These three are working together," he said pointing to the three of them, "I think they were planning on betraying the village and taking the forbidden scroll with them."

The Hokage's eyes widened as he heard of this. He turned to see that Naruto still had the forbidden scroll on his back, but Naruto pulled it off and handed it to the Hokage. Just as the scroll switched hands it poofed into a cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared there was only a small twig in his hand. Mizuki's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.

"Hokage-sama," said Sakura, "This man tried to trick Naruto into stealing the scroll, and then he spoke of the S-class secret about the nine-tailed fox."

"Mizuki," said the Hokage, "You are under arrest for betraying the village and for speaking of and S-class secret." Two ANBU appeared in the room and took Mizuki by the arms and dragged him kicking and screaming out of the room. "Thank you," said the Hokage to the three of them.

"You're welcome," answered Sakura with a smile as they left the room.

Outside of the room Sasuke turned to Naruto and asked, "Are you ok Naruto?"

Naruto nodded and said, "I just didn't think that Mizuki would be able to get into my head again. I thought I was ready for it this time, but I guess I wasn't."

Sakura pulled Naruto into a hug and whispered quiet soothing words while petting his hair. After a few moments Naruto calmed enough to walk home and play his music. That had always calmed him in the future and it easily calmed his mind now.


	4. Chapter 4

The next day when they got to the school everyone looked at them with awe in their eyes. They were early so the only people who there were teachers. They praised Sasuke and Sakura, but they still glared at Naruto. Whispers like, "I bet he's taking credit for what those two did," and, "There's no way that demon could catch a traitor like Mizuki," were heard behind them as they walked, but when Sasuke and Sakura were about to turn to yell at the teachers Naruto grabbed their arms and shook his head so they both clenched their teeth and balled their hands into fists to stop themselves from lashing out at the stupid people.

When they reached the classroom where they would once again be assigned teams Naruto was met with a huge bear hug from Iruka. "I'm so proud of you Naruto. You were able to trick Mizuki, and, with the help of your friends, you were able to catch him," Iruka praised.

Naruto was so happy that his gloomy face turned into a large grin. "Thank you Iruka-sensei," he said hugging his favorite teacher back.

Sasuke and Sakura smiled, though Sasuke's was only barely visible, and together with Naruto they went to sit down. Sasuke was next to the window, Naruto was to the right of him, and to the right of Naruto was Sakura. They were surprised to find that, other than Iruka, they were the first ones in the room. They hadn't thought that they left that early.

As students began filing in all the boys gave their congratulations as they passed their desk, and all the girls, except for Hinata who gave a stuttered congratulations to Naruto before running off to sit somewhere else, all ran straight to Sasuke and praised him about his excellent achievement and told him that they had not expected any of him. As their praise continued Sasuke began to become annoyed with them, and Naruto and Sakura were laughing their butts off. Finally, it stopped and one of the evil fan girls turned to Naruto and said, "Move. Sasuke doesn't want to sit next to you. You might just rub your stupidness off on him." That's when Sasuke finally pulled out the famous Uchiha glare, and Naruto didn't have time to feel upset because he had to laugh at the scurrying fan girls who, despite their fear of the Uchiha, still found seats as close to him as they could. That was when class began.

As the list of teams was read out loud Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura listened closely for their names. "Team 7," said Iruka and they leaned forward in their chairs, "Uchiha Sasuke," they crossed their fingers, "Haruno Sakura," they bit their lips, "and Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto and Sakura cheered and Sasuke smirked beside them as the news that they were still in the same team reached their ears. After that they hadn't listened to the rest of the teams, though they did hear that Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji were still on the same team, and Kiba, Hinata, and Shino were still on the same team. "Now please wait here until your new instructors come to pick you up," said Iruka as he left their rooms.

So there they waited until all the students had been picked up by their own senseis and then they waited some more until finally Naruto said, "It's gonna be two more hours before Kakashi arrives. Can we just go wait up on the roof since he's gonna tell us to go up there anyway when he gets here?" Sakura and Sasuke nodded so they went up to the roof.

* * *

Kakashi arrived at the classroom expecting a prank from his new students as he had every year, so when he didn't get one he was very surprised. He looked around and was surprised to see that his students weren't even in the room so he widened his senses, and searched for his students. He felt there chakra signatures on the roof so that's where he went. When he got there he was again expecting a prank, but again it never came. Instead he saw his students sitting together with their backs turned to him. Sasuke and Sakura were both sleeping quietly on either sides of Naruto and he was stroking their hair in a soothing manner that, though only a ninja would have noticed, was also very protective.

Kakashi smiled before saying, "Alright children, time to wake up." To his disappointment they woke up slowly and rubbed the sleep from their eyes. Kakashi sighed as he thought of how much he'd probably have to teach his students. He walked in front of them and leaned against the railing as he pulled out the infamous perverted book of his. "Alright why don't we introduce ourselves," he said past his book.

Sakura nodded and said, "Why don't you go first, sensei so we know what you want us to tell about ourselves?"

"Alright," he said, "My name is Hatake Kakashi, I like many things, I hate very few things, and my dream is none of your business. Now your turn Pinkie."

Sakura smiled sweetly and said, "My name is Haruno Sakura, I like my friends and my medicine, I hate it when I can't save someone in time, and my dream is to become the best medical ninja ever."

Kakashi raised his one visible eyebrow in curiosity before pointing to Sasuke, "Now you."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I like my friends and being strong enough to protect them, I hate not being able to protect them and having to watch them die, and my dream is to become the ANBU captain."

Before Kakashi was even able to point at Naruto he said, "My name is Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, though I'd prefer it if when you introduce me to anyone else that you introduce me as Uzumaki Naruto, I like my friends and ramen and reading and well many things, I hate comparisons and people who underestimate others and not being able to defend my friends, and my dream is to become Hokage."

Kakashi gasped as he heard the name of his sensei's son, but pulled himself back together as he asked, "Why do you hate comparisons?"

"When people compare one person to another they don't know how either of the lives have gone and can therefore not really compare them correctly."

At this Kakashi nodded. "Okay tomorrow I want you at the bridge at sun rise for a new mission," he waited for a moment to see if any of them would become excited at the thought of a mission, but when they didn't he said, "and don't eat breakfast because if you do you will not be able to keep it in your stomach." He waited again for their surprise and this time he was surprised when it didn't come, but he just shrugged it off and left thinking, _"They'll see tomorrow." _His three students watched him go before heading to Sasuke's house to train.

* * *

When morning arrived they all stayed in their beds and slept in until it was at least 11:30. Then they woke up and got dressed and ate their breakfasts and then they went to the bridge to wait for their sensei. When there sensei arrived 15 minutes he began with his usual excuses for his tardiness. "I'm sorry I'm late," he said, "but as I was on my way here a black cat crossed my path and I had to take the long way around."

"That's all right Kakashi-sensei," said Sakura without any hint of anger.

"We've only just arrived ourselves," said Naruto with a bright smile.

"You see my mom stopped me before I could head out to congratulate me on becoming a ninja and then she took me on a shopping spree, and there was no way I could pass that up," said Sakura.

"My alarm clock didn't go off this morning so I woke up late and just as I was about to leave Iruka came to the house to offer me ramen, and I had to go. Then when we got there Teuchi-san offered me free ramen so I ate as much as I could," said Naruto.

"My father had to stop me to give me a lecture on how I should be more like Itachi, and then my mother wouldn't let me go until she told me how proud she was of me," Sasuke joined in.

Kakashi's visible was as wide as a dinner plate as his students smiled innocently at him. "Don't you take this seriously?" he suddenly growled at his students, "A ninja could lose his life by being so carefree as you three are."

His students looked at him strangely for a moment before Naruto said, "but Kakashi-sensei we were earlier then you were and our excuses were much more credible then yours."

Kakashi pulled himself together and motioned for them to follow him as he moved to the training grounds. "Since you think you're so smart I'm sure you'll have no problem passing my next test," he mumbled angrily. They all just watched him waiting for his test rules to come out. "This alarm will go off in an hour at 12:00," he said as he set the alarm clock down, "You have to get these two bells before the time goes off. I want you to come at me with whatever you got. Whoever doesn't get a bell will fail and they'll be tied to one of those posts and they will go without lunch."

Sakura decided that she might as well play along so she said, "But Kakashi-sensei there's only two bells."

Kakashi smiled under his mask and said, "That's right so one of you will fail. Anymore questions?" they shook their heads, "All right. Ready, set, go!"

As the last word was spoken each of them went off to hide. Kakashi pulled out his book as he widened his senses to try and feel for their presences. He felt one to his left, one to his right, and another directly behind him. He smiled, _"Well at least they are able to hide from average genin, but I am no average genin." _He was about to go for the person to his right, but before he could that person jumped out from their hiding place. He was surprised to find that it was Sasuke. He had expected Naruto to be the one to show himself. Then the person to his left showed themselves. This person was Sakura so that only remained that Naruto was still in the bushes. That meant that he was too cowardly to face Kakashi. Not a good trait for a ninja.

Before he could think any further on the subject he had to block two kick to his side. Both of his attackers flipped back and stood exactly the same amount apart. Then they came at him again and again. He was upset to find that he needed both of his hands to defend himself and therefore could not read his book. He placed it back in his kunai pouch and again had to defend himself from two more attacks. His two opponents moved together as they fought opposite of each other. It was almost as though it was an intricate dance between the two of them that Kakashi was in the way of. _"These two are attacking at the same time," _thought Kakashi as he watched them, _"No…Sasuke is copying Sakura's moves. He's behind Sakura by a couple of seconds. It's not much of a difference, but it's enough of a difference for any shinobi to take advantage of, and I am a shinobi."_

For the next half hour Kakashi watched Sakura's moves and defended himself from her while at the same time defending himself from Sasuke by using every one of Sakura's moves to predict his. At first he had looked back at Sasuke just to make sure that he wouldn't try anything different, but after a while Kakashi grew tired of it since Sasuke never did anything else. However, after a half hour had passed and Sakura aimed to hit his face with a punch and he had brought both hands up to cover his face, he felt a hard kick to his gut. He gasped as he flipped backwards and landed on his feet while holding his stomach. Sasuke and Sakura were looking angry and as he ran towards him he realized why. He hadn't gone close enough for Naruto to attack him. Naruto wasn't being a coward he was being a trap. Both Sasuke and Sakura rushed forward and again they fell back into a deadly type of dance, but this time it did not match. They never did the same thing twice in a row, and it made Kakashi think on his feet. After a moment he realized he was being pushed back and jumped behind them. They growled and again tried to force him to go towards Naruto and he just kept jumping behind him.

Another 15 minutes passed by before Kakashi said as he jumped over their heads once again, "You're plan has failed you should have thought of a backup plan," but just as he finished saying this felt himself get caught in a net of intricately woven ninja wire that had a little bit of chakra running through it. Not enough to hold him for long, but enough to give the two of them the chance to grab the bells. They did just that before jumping back.

"You shouldn't underestimate your opponents," Sakura said sweetly as she waved the bell around.

"Look underneath the underneath," mumbled Sasuke.

Kakashi was surprised. "Alright you two pass, but Naruto," he said as he raised his voice so Naruto could hear, "You fail."

Naruto came out of the bush and walked over to stand in between his friends. "That's incorrect Kakashi-sensei," he said with a smile. Kakashi raised his eye brow in question and waited for an answer. "You see Kakashi-sensei I have 15 minutes left to obtain one of these bells to make it so I don't fail."

"You're going to take one from your teammates?" he asked as he finally got out of the wires.

Naruto shook his head before reaching both his hands forward and grabbing both of the hands that held the bells. "Now all three of us hold the bells so none of us failed."

Kakashi gasped. Not even he had thought of that when he took this test. "You think that's right?" Kakashi asked Sakura and Sasuke, "That he gets a share of your winnings even though he has done nothing to deserve it."

"Those who stray from their mission are scum, but those who leave their friends behind are worse than scum," said Sasuke as he quoted his sensei's own words.

"Besides, Naruto was the one who thought of this whole plan," said Sakura.

"Well then you all," said Kakashi, "pass." The three of them smiled at one another just as the alarm went off to signal it being twelve o'clock.

* * *

i just wanted to let you all know that my chapters might take longer to come out because both of the computers i use, that's right both of them, are broken. so i can only use my mom's computer that she needs for work so anyway that's all i wanted to say


	5. Chapter 5

The next few weeks were filled with training with Kakashi, training at Sasuke's house, or doing D-rank missions. The three of them weren't as upset with their low level missions as they were in the past because now they used these chances to work on their training. Sakura would use her medical skills to make poisons that targeted only the weeds that they were trying to remove; Sasuke was working on his chakra control by walking on air when they walked the dogs, though he made sure that he was low enough to the ground that it actually looked like he wasn't walking on air so that Kakashi wouldn't notice; and Naruto walked with his eyes closed when they went to go and get water from the river for the soils, but Kakashi didn't notice this either because when Naruto was younger he would walk with his eyes as far closed as he could that still allowed him to see. He didn't want to walk like that then, but it was the only way to insure that he would not get dirt in his eyes when rocks and mud balls were thrown at him, and if he kept his eyes narrowed he would have to focus on only what was just before him and not the evil glares of the villagers that surrounded him. However, this limited there training and they soon got very bored of doing the same things over again. So when they saw a drunken bridge builder walking along the streets of Konoha their faces lit up with excitement, but they knew that first they'd have to convince the Hokage to give them this job.

They went to the Hokage tower to get their next mission and they were told that they would have another D-rank mission and they immediately began to complain. "We've been doing nothing but D-rank missions this whole time," whined Naruto.

"Yea," pouted Sakura, "We've already learned all that we could from these missions."

"We cannot improve if we are kept at the same place when we are above that area," Sasuke added in.

As the three of them complained the Hokage began to laugh. "Do they always gang up on you?" he asked Kakashi.

"Only all the time," said Kakashi as he rolled his visible eye.

"That's not true," said Naruto as he was usually the first to contradict him.

"Only when our choice is better than yours," said Sakura as she was usually the one to explain their point of view.

"Which is most of the time," said Sasuke as he was usually the one to say the smug remarks.

"Thank you for proving my point," said Kakashi as the Hokage began his laughing again.

Finally, when the Hokage was brought back from his fits of laughter and his coughs for air were over, he turned to Kakashi to ask, "Do you think that they are ready to move on?" Kakashi only nodded as he pulled out his own book. He, himself, was pretty bored of all these missions and was surprised that the students had not complained yet. He was beginning to assume that he might be the one to have to beg for a higher mission. "So be it," said the Hokage as he turned back to the students, "Since you are so determined I will give you a C-rank mission. You are going to be bodyguards on a journey. Send in our visitor." He nodded to the door and all of them turned to see a drunken old bridge-builder that they knew to be Tazuna.

"What the?" he said, "A bunch of little snot nosed kids," then he took a drink from his sake, "And you, the little one with the idiotic scars on his face, you really expect me to believe that you're a ninja," and another drink from his sake, "I am Tazuna. A master bridge-builder from my country. I am building a bridge there that will change our lives so I must get there safely even if it cost you your lives." He looked up at the kids and was amazed to find that the one that he insulted was not angry but the Hokage, the man next to him, the man standing near the kids, and the two other kids were glaring daggers at him.

"Before you go around insulting other people," growled Sakura, "You should take a look at yourself. What man gets drunk in a rich village when his own is on the verge of death and is depending on him?"

"You should think twice before insulting the people who could accidently let one of the attackers slip past them and mortally injure you," threatened Sasuke.

It seemed as though they were going to continue, but before they could Naruto said, "I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it Sakura, Sasuke." They both looked at him and then sighed in resignation. Naruto smiled at them before turning to the bridge-builder and saying, "My name is Naruto. This is Sasuke, and Sakura. And that's our jounin-sensei Kakashi. We will be your guides back to your home." But Tazuna was still shocked and so he didn't say anything to answer him.

Even the Hokage, Iruka, and Kakashi seemed shocked, but Kakashi got over it rather quickly and turned to his students to instruct them. "We will meet at the gates in 15 minutes. Get ready and then go there."

"We all know it will be an hour before you get there," smirked Naruto before the three of them left.

"How do you do that?" asked Iruka.

Kakashi sweat-dropped, "You get used to it."

* * *

An hour later everyone was at the gate getting ready to head off on their first C-rank mission of this life time. They walked along the road with Naruto leading the way, Sasuke and Sakura on either side of the bridge builder, and Kakashi behind them. They walked for a while with Tazuna insulting them, Naruto smiling, and Sasuke and Sakura glaring throughout the whole walk. No one took any notice that Naruto had needed no directions as they kept going throughout.

Kakashi looked over as they passed a little puddle, but passed it easily. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura stopped and turned to face the little puddle and Naruto walked calmly over to stand in front of the bridge-builder. "You can come out assassins," said Sakura. Kakashi's eyes widened as their ninja knowledge impressed him again.

However the assassins did not emerge from their hiding place and it annoyed Sasuke. "That is such an easy disguise to see through," he said, "It hasn't rained in days, there's no lake near enough to make a puddle, and the morning mist wasn't strong enough to leave behind any water. Such an amateur mistake." These words seemed to anger the assassins as they jumped out of the water and moved forward to attack them. One moved towards Sasuke and the other moved to attack Kakashi. The one who attacked Kakashi was successful, but the one who went for Sasuke was met with defeat. "Amateurs," he said again before he and Sakura launched themselves towards the assassins.

Naruto just stood watching his friends fight with the demon brothers. He didn't bother to move into a defensive position since he knew that there was no way that the two brothers would be able to defeat Sasuke or Sakura. He almost smiled at the fear that Tazuna was emitting because Tazuna was seeing the power of his teammates and could no longer insult them. He didn't care if the man insulted him as he had been insulted all his life in both his lives, but he hated to hear people insult his friends. The only reason he had said nothing about it to Tazuna was because he wanted to show Tazuna that he should respect his friends.

It was only a few moments before both of them were out cold and Sakura called for Kakashi to come out of his hiding place. "We know you're up there sensei." Kakashi came down and clapped his hands together in applause. "That was very dangerous," Sakura scolded him, "If we had been any other team of genin we could have very easily died."

"Ah, now you know I wouldn't have allowed that. If you had been in any danger at all I would have jumped in to save you," answered Kakashi with his smile. The bridge-builder couldn't tell that he was smiling, but with all the time that the three genin had spent with him in the future they could read even the slightest change of expression on their sensei. Even at this moment they watched as his face made the slightest of movements towards suspicion. "Besides I had to know who their target was, and what they were after," his suspicious eye turned to the bridge builder who acted as though he knew nothing about the attack.

"What are you getting at?" asked Tazuna.

"This," said Kakashi as he turned to him, "I wanted to know if they were after us, ninja attacking ninja, or if they were attacking you, the master bridge-builder. When you put in your request you asked for standard protection from robbers and highwaymen. You didn't say there were ninja looking for you; hunting you down. If we knew this it would be a B-ranked mission or higher. Our task was simply to get you to your destination and protect you while you finished building your bridge. If we knew we were going to be fielding attacks from enemy ninja we would have staffed differently and charged for the cost of a B mission. Apparently you have your reasons, but lying to us is not acceptable. We are now beyond the scope of this mission."

"If we were as weak as most genin," said Sakura calmly, "we would have to go back at this moment."

"But we aren't just any genin," said Sasuke as he finished tying up the two amateur assassins.

Kakashi looked at them curiously, but he didn't say anything to contradict them. "Alright!" said Naruto happily turning back towards the village that they were heading, "Now that we've got that out of the way let's get going."

"You three don't get the seriousness of this do you?" growled Kakashi. He seemed to be a lot more serious in this time than he did in both the past and the future. Although he still kept to his Icha Icha Paradise and read it whenever he thought his attention was not necessary.

Naruto turned to the bridge-builder, "It seems that you are going to have to tell us why you're being attacked before we move on or Kakashi will make us go back and leave you here."

Tazuna sighed. "It seems I have no choice. No. I want you to know the truth. Like you said, this is beyond the scope of the original mission. The one who seeks my life is a very short man who casts a very long and deadly shadow."

"A deadly shadow?" asked Kakashi, "Who is it?"

"You know him. At least I'm sure you've heard his name before. He's one of the wealthiest men in the world. His name is Gato,"

Kakashi seemed surprised at this, but the three genin only stood and watched the conversation occur. "Gato? Of Gato transport? He's a business leader. Everyone knows him."

"Gato is a very powerful man from a famous company, that's true, but below the surface, with the same ruthless methods he uses to take over businesses and nations, he sells drugs and contraband using gangs and ninja. It was one year ago when Gato first set his sights on the land of waves. He came to our island and used his vast wealth to take control over our transports and shipping. Anyone who tried to stand in his way simply disappeared. In an island nation a man who controls the sea controls everything. Finance, government, our very lives, but there's one thing he fears. The bridge. When it is complete it will join us to the land and that will break his control. I am the bridge-builder."

"Oh I get," said Sakura, "and you couldn't tell us because Gato has pretty much made you into a poor nation."

"Yes," he agreed, "and if you end the mission there will be no bridge. They'll assassinate me before I reach home, but don't feel bad about that. Of course my sweet little grandson will be upset. He'll cry, 'Granddad. I want my granddad.' Oh and my daughter will condemn the ninja of the hidden leaves, denouncing and blaming you for abandoning her father and living her life in sorrow. Ah, well, it's not your fault. Forget it."

"There's no need to bribe us Tazuna-san," said Naruto with a smile.

"We already said we'd help," added Sakura.

"And bribing people to do what you want is very low," mumbled Sasuke.

Kakashi shrugged, "I guess I can't say no if my students don't want to go back." So again they turned and Naruto led them to the land of waves.

* * *

I'm really sorry about not getting this up sooner. first the computers broke, then i got writers block, then when my sister's computer somehow fixed itself i had a whole bunch of homework because it was the end of the semester, and then when i finally finished all that stuff i had writers block again. that's why this chapter isn't all that good. anyway, i don't think i mentioned it earlier, but i welcome flames. i like to know how to make my stories better.

p.s. don't get mad at me when tazuna makes fun of naruto's scars because he doesn't know anything about the kyuubi. he only says that because he thinks naruto did it to himself as a fashion statement or a way of getting attention. sort of like a kids these days thing.


	6. Chapter 6

After another hour of walking, a short boat ride through a dense fog, and then another half hour of walking Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke all sensed the two people that they had been waiting to meet up with. They looked at each other calmly to make sure that the other knew what to do. Naruto had made a plan for this moment already because he knew it would be coming. Then all of them looked at Kakashi who didn't even notice the slight presence of their enemies.

There was a sudden rustling in the bushes and Naruto threw his kunai at it making sure to miss his target so that he wouldn't kill the creature. Kakashi looked up just as Naruto was doing this to make sure that it wasn't an enemy. He wasn't surprised to find that Naruto had thrown his kunai at a bunny, but he was surprised to find that the bunny was white in the middle of spring.

Naruto moved forward and picked up the bunny that was shaking from almost being killed. He pulled it towards himself and softly began to murmur words of comfort to the creature to calm it down as he petted its snow white fur. "I'm so sorry that I threw that kunai at you little bunny. It had to be done or no one would have noticed you and one of the enemy ninjas would have been able to use a substitution jutsu and sneak up on us," he muttered to the bunny.

Kakashi tensed up at this thought. "That means the enemy ninja are close by us," he said quickly as he turned to give orders to his students, "Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, I want you to… Where the heck are Sakura and Sasuke?"

Tazuna gasped when he realized the students had left. Neither he nor Kakashi had noticed their disappearance, but Naruto seemed to be unfazed by the thought that his comrades were missing. "I'm sure they're around here somewhere," he said.

At this moment there was a loud clanging sound of metal hitting metal and Kakashi was just about to go towards that sound, but Naruto held him back. "What are you doing?" he growled to his student, "If you don't let me go then your comrades will be killed."

"If I let you go than you will ruin our plan," answered Naruto as he tightened his grip on his sensei's arm.

"What plan? You haven't even spoken two words about any of this. How can you have a plan?" Kakashi growled.

"It always pays to be prepared so that when something like this happens when you have no time to discuss what will happen next," Naruto said calmly.

"Fine," sighed Kakashi as he thought that there enemy was probably just another group of assassins like the ones they had faced before, "What is this plan then?"

"It's quite simple really," said Naruto as he let go of Kakashi and returned to petting the little creature, "I make all attention go to me, which I did by attacking the bunny, and Sasuke attacks the leader, and Sakura attacks the subordinate. Each is to make sure that the enemy is not able to use any jutsu because we don't know what they will do." Of course what Naruto neglected to say was that there was more to the plan. The plan actually spanned until the end of this mission when the bridge would be made, but if he said that then Kakashi would be suspicious again and that would be hard to explain to their teacher. "If they need help they call out and then you can go and help them Kakashi-sensei."

"Fine," said Kakashi as he rubbed his temples to try to get rid of his growing headache, "but if anything goes wrong I'm going to go and save them. You got that?" Naruto nodded his head with a silent victorious smile on his face.

* * *

Sasuke had immediately gone to Zabuza when Naruto had given the signal for them to move, which was attacking the bunny. He got there just in time to catch Zabuza's sword when he threw it. Throwing it back Sasuke pulled out his own sword which was much skinnier than Zabuza's.

"Well look what we have here," said Zabuza as he caught his sword, "A little kid thinks that he can beat me. I don't think so kid. You'll never beat me with that little sword. You might have had the smallest of chances when you had my sword, but since you gave it back to me you're gonna die." At this he began to poor out the killer intent that had caught Sasuke in their other life.

Sasuke laughed at the weak attempt to make him afraid. He had felt much stronger killer intent from the Kyuubi before it merged with Naruto. "You won't scare me with such little tricks," said Sasuke as he got into a fighting stance.

Zabuza growled and lunged forward at Sasuke with a downward thrust, but Sasuke merely moved to the left of the branch he was on and kicked Zabuza in the back. "Wouldn't it be better for you if we moved this to ground level so that you don't have to make sure to keep your balance in a tree?" asked Sasuke as he watched Zabuza regain his balance from his last attack.

"Sure kid," Zabuza growled, "Whatever will help you."

Sasuke snorted at this. He was perfectly capable of a sword fight in a tree because of two reasons: one was that his sword was much easier to control because it was much lighter and two was that he had trained with both Sakura and Naruto who had each tried every way to get him of balance in a tree just as he had them.

They both jumped to the floor and Zabuza immediately turned and thrust his sword at Sasuke who just moved two steps to the right. Zabuza growled at how easily the boy seemed to be dodging all of his attacks. After moments of thrusting and slashing Zabuza brought his hands together to make a seal for a jutsu, but he was stopped by Sasuke's next words, "Are you so weak that you can't even beat a child who's not even half your size without using justus."

Zabuza growled and again he launched into another frenzy of attacks which Sasuke dodged easily. "You wish kid," he growled.

Sasuke allowed Zabuza to get a little angrier about not being able to get any hits before he said, "With a sword that's that big you can only do three things: downward slash, sideways slash, and thrust. All of which are easily seen coming and are easy to dodge."

Zabuza growled and did a downward slash making Sasuke move right, but in the middle of the attack he changed it and moved it to the right. Sasuke widened his eyes in surprise as the sword came to cut his middle. "That's what you get for being so cocky brat," said Zabuza with a victorious smirk as he placed the sword on his shoulder.

"Naruto is very good at hiding his emotions and faking ones that he really doesn't feel. He taught us a lot about this as it is a good thing for a ninja to be able to trick others. I myself didn't have a problem with hiding my emotions, but making ones that I did not feel was hard for me," said Sasuke and Zabuza looked around for any sign of the enemy, but he found none. Not even a drop of blood. "One of the emotions that we learned was the emotion of surprise. I was going to wait a little longer so that we could have a little fun, but I'm bored of you." Zabuza didn't know what was coming as Sasuke, who had been using his chakra to stick to the sword moved forward and used the back of his own sword to hit the back of Zabuza's neck and knock him unconscious. Sasuke picked up Zabuza's limp body and put it over his shoulders as he sheathed his sword and picked up the larger one to carry along with him.

* * *

Sakura had gone towards where Haku waited for Zabuza to attack the genin. She quietly snuck up behind the boy as she was getting ready to attack him. "I won't let you attack me so easily," said Haku as he turned to face her.

Sakura smiled at him and asked, "How did you know I was there?"

"During this job Zabuza-san ordered me to watch everything that happens. Your friends attempt to distract me from your disappearance was futile, but there are two of you missing. Where did that other one go?" answered Haku.

"To Zabuza," answered Sakura.

"He's going to die you know," said Haku without showing any signs of being surprised, "No one has ever beaten Zabuza-san."

Sakura smiled again, "There's a first time for everything you know, and Sasuke likes to be first." She settled herself into a fighting position and watched as Haku did the same. After watching each other carefully to see if they could find any weaknesses Haku was the first to attack. He lunged forward and threw three of his senbon needles at the pressure points that would paralyze Sakura if they hit. However, Sakura, who was a great medic nin and knew where all of the pressure points were, dodged them easily. This kept happening until Sakura saw an opening for her to attack. She moved forward quickly so that she wouldn't lose this chance and threw a punch at Haku's gut. Haku was unable to avoid it and the force of the punch knocked him unconscious. He began to fall to the ground only to be caught by Sakura who, after collecting all the senbon needles from the scene of their battle, carried him back to where the others waited. She hadn't put a lot a chakra into her punch because Naruto had asked them both not to hurt the enemy ninjas too badly.

* * *

Both Sakura and Sasuke got back to the rest of their group at the same time carrying their heavy loads. Tazuna gasped, Kakashi's visible eye widened considerably, and Naruto just giggled and said, "My, what a mighty catch you have there," as he pulled out a rope and moved towards them.

"Thank you Naruto," said Sakura with a big smile as she put her load down next to a nearby tree.

"It was like taking candy from a baby," muttered Sasuke as he placed Zabuza's limp body with Haku.

"It's not nice to take candy from a baby Sasuke," said Naruto with a large grin on his face. Sasuke just rolled his eyes and helped Naruto tie up the two. "Any serious injuries?" he asked them. Kakashi and Tazuna thought that Naruto was asking about the two of them since they had just defeated an S-rank criminal and his subordinate, but both of them shrugged.

"Just a bruise in the stomach," said Sakura happily.

"He'll have a bad kink in his neck when he wakes up," said Sasuke.

"That's great," said Naruto happily, "What about you guys?" Both Tazuna's and Kakashi's eyes widened again.

"Not at all," said Sakura while Sasuke shook his head no and their spectators gasped, "I love how you care more about these two than you do us," said Sakura with a pout.

"Don't worry Sakura. That just means that I think that you two are much stronger than they are." A groan was heard from the two unconscious people as Haku began to awaken. "Well good morning," said Naruto as he crouched down to be at eye level with him, "Did you have a nice nap?"

Haku just looked at him through his mask as Zabuza began to awaken as well. "What the hell?" he yelled as he struggled to break free from his binds.

"They're chakra ropes," said Sasuke, "You'll never be able to break free of them." This just made Zabuza try harder.

Naruto watched Zabuza try to break free for a moment before saying, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. This is Sasuke Uchiha, and this is Sakura Haruno. The two over there are Hatake Kakashi, our sensei, and Tazuna the bridge builder. It's nice to meet you."

"Why the hell would I want to know who you are. As soon as I break free from these ropes I'm gonna kill you all starting with you," growled Zabuza as he let out his killer intent again.

"That won't work on me," said Naruto with a smile, "Besides I just wanted to make a deal with you two."

Zabuza narrowed his eyes and said, "What kind of deal."

"We want you to join us back in Konoha. I already got permission from the Hokage to bring anyone back who I thought would be a good asset to the village."

"Why would I want to go and join such a weak village?"

"Our village is not weak," said Sakura indignantly.

"Two of our genin just defeated both of you," said Sasuke.

"I underestimated you," growled Zabuza, "and I went easy on you. It won't happen again."

"You keep telling yourself that," Sakura said as she rolled her eyes.

"Well if you think that we are so weak," said Naruto as he gained Zabuza's attention again, "Let's make a different deal. I'm gonna let you go and you'll have until you next decide to attack us to think this over. When you next attack us if we defeat you then you have to join us in Konoha and if we lose then you go free and we die."

"What if we decide that we don't want to join your team?"

"Then you die," Naruto shrugged his shoulders, "You don't have to decide now. Just before you next attack us." He moved forward untied the rope that he was holding the two as prisoners, but before he had completely taken the knot apart he took the two senbon needles that Sakura had conveniently forgot to put back inside of Haku's pouch. "but I don't want you guys to get in trouble from Gatou because you didn't finish your job. So you have to go to sleep Zabuza." With this he plunged the senbon needles into the same pressure points that Haku had used in their first battle to simulate death. Haku gasped and when the rope was no longer holding them he quickly grabbed Zabuza and, just as he had the first time, he disappeared.

"Are you an idiot?" yelled Kakashi as the two escaped, "Those are S-rank criminals. You can't just let them go like that!"

"Don't worry Kakashi-sensei," said Naruto as he turned to face him, "They'll come back soon and then they'll join Konoha just like I asked them to."

"You just got lucky this time," said Kakashi, "Next time they'll slaughter you."

"Don't worry Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said again.

Kakashi rubbed his temples to calm himself and his headache down and then said, "Since they got away and will soon attack us we have to train. When we get to Tazuna's house we'll rest and then tomorrow we'll train."

The three students smiled happily, though Sasuke's was more of a smirk, and all five of them went on their way after they waited for Tazuna to come out of his fear and shock at what had just happened.

* * *

yay i was able to finish this chapter quickly


	7. Chapter 7

The next day after they all went to bed they were awoken by the sound of Inari greeting his grandpa. Well Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi were, but Naruto had already gotten up and was helping Tsunami with the breakfast. The three of them went down stairs to see Inari glaring at them.

"What are you doing here?" he said.

"Inari don't be rude. These ninja helped your grandpa and brought him here safely," said Tsunami as she and Naruto put the plates on the table.

"Mom don't you see these people are going to die. Gatou and his men will come back and find them and wipe them out," said Inari as he turned to face his mother.

Since he was facing his mother he didn't notice as Naruto crept up behind him and patted his head. "Don't worry little one," he said, "We'll defeat Gatou and his lowly men and become the next heroes of this place."

"Ha," said Inari, "There's no such thing as heroes. You're just full of stupid ideas. If you want to stay alive you should go back where you came from."

At this Naruto smiled, "Perhaps I could leave. I could just abandon you for my own safety, but that's not the way I live. I once heard these words and ever since I have never forgotten them. If you care about something protect it. Even if you have to put your life on the line protect it with both arms. Never give in. I intend to keep to those words even if I die. If you want us to leave so badly then we will, but tell me, Inari, do you want your grandfather to die so badly." Then Naruto walked out of the room without eating his breakfast and left the house leaving Inari crying and Tazuna and Tsunami gasping in surprise.

Inari ran out of the room as Tsunami asked, "How did he hear those words?"

"He heard them a long time ago," said Sakura.

"But why would he want to protect us? He doesn't even know us. Why would we be precious to him?" she asked.

"Naruto is a weird person," mumbled Sasuke, "He believes that all life is precious. He doesn't want to kill anyone."

"Then why doesn't he try to protect you two when you guys are fighting? Does he not think that you are important to him?" asked Tazuna.

"We are important to him," said Sakura, "He would do anything it takes to protect us."

"He just trusts that we are strong enough to fight on our own. If we were actually in danger he would move in an instant to take the blow for us," said Sasuke, "And when we were fighting in the woods, Tazuna-san, you needed his protection much more than we did."

Then, without another word, the two of them began to eat. When they were done they left the house to follow Naruto saying that when Kakashi was ready to train them they would be waiting.

Kakashi found the three of them in the woods with Sasuke and Sakura napping just as they had been when he first met them. "Alright time to wake up," he said and was again disappointed as the two of them woke up slowly. Naruto stood and moved forward just a step as he watched his sensei. A moment later when the other two had completely woken up they stood by Naruto. Kakashi sighed, "You three need to work on your awareness. What would you have done if I had attacked you while you were asleep?"

"Then I would have woken them up sensei," said Naruto.

"And how would that be any different from when I woke them up?" asked Kakashi as he raised his visible brow.

"It's a conditioned response," answered Sakura, "When we are attacked Naruto feels the need to wake us up so we immediately wake up, but when this doesn't occur and we are in no danger, but we should be waking up, then Naruto doesn't wake us up and we don't feel the need to wake up so quickly."

"What will you do if Naruto isn't around to wake you up?" asked Kakashi.

"Then our minds are on full alert and we don't completely fall asleep. If we're not completely asleep then we wake up really easily," she answered.

Kakashi sighed. These students of his were giving him a lot of headaches. "Alright training starts now. Your team is very well balanced with both offense and defense, but what will you do if you get separated? Sakura and Sasuke you need to work more on defense in this training, and Naruto you have no skills in offense at all so you rely on defense. This is not a good trait for a ninja. You have to practice on your offense instead of always allowing them to attack you while you defend."

The three students nodded and went to stand in a triangle. "Sakura," said Naruto, "You first."

Sakura launched herself forward with chakra in her fisted hand waiting to blow up on whoever she hit, but she didn't attack Naruto like she usually did. Instead she headed towards Sasuke who easily dodged it by moving to the left and hitting her arm downward so that she would lose her balance. However, she didn't lose her balance. Instead she quickly drew the chakra out of her hand and pushed it towards her foot where she was trying to kick Sasuke. Sasuke jumped backwards.

This continued for a while and Kakashi was satisfied by Sasuke's defense, but he was not happy that neither Naruto nor Sakura had listened to him. Naruto just stood in the background watching the two of them fight. "What are you doing?" he asked them.

The fighting stopped and all three of his students looked at him. "We're doing as we were told," said Sakura.

"You, Sakura, was told to work on your defense not your offense," growled Kakashi.

"You can't have both of them working on their defense at once because they won't have an offense to defend against," said Naruto.

"That's why you're supposed to be working on your offense so that they can defend against you," sighed Kakashi.

At this Naruto's eyes grew a shade darker and he glared at his teacher. "I refuse to attack my friends, Kakashi-sensei. I refuse to kill them. I was working on my offense just as you told me to. I just wasn't working on it the way you do. Now if you don't mind we were training just as you asked us to and unless you want to train with them they will have to take turns working on their defense."

"Naruto you shouldn't get so angry at him. This is only training, and he didn't know that you would never attack us. It isn't really his fault," Sakura said as she came up to stand behind him.

"I know," sighed Naruto as he turned to look at her. He gave her a smile before turning back to his teacher with his eyes back to their normal shade that gave the sky a run for its money and said, "I'm sorry Kakashi-sensei. Just please don't ever ask me to attack my friends. They're the only thing I have and I don't want to lose them."

"Your friends won't hate you just because you attacked them in a training practice," said Kakashi.

"You never know," Naruto answered, "I think Tsunami-san is making some food for us. Let's go back." With this he ran off to go see if there was any food, and sure enough when they were all in the house they found Tsunami in the kitchen making them some dinner.

Team 7 had been in the land of the waves for a few days and they had already heard about what happened to Inari's father. Naruto had gone out every moment that he wasn't doing anything to train. Kakashi had tried to follow him to see his training, but would always lose him and be forced to return. When he would walk through the door he would receive a snicker from Sakura and a smirk from Sasuke.

On this day Naruto had decided to lie down and close his eyes for a bit. Haku found him sleeping on the ground and for a moment he watched the sleeping boy carefully. Finally he crouched before the boy and reached out his hand to grab his neck.

"That's against the rules of our deal," said Naruto with his eyes still closed.

Haku immediately took back his hand. "You're awake!" he gasped.

"I never fell asleep," answered Naruto, "Are you here to collect herbs for Zabuza-san?" Haku looked over to his basket which he had not started to fill yet and then slowly nodded his head. "Would you mind if I helped?" asked Naruto as he sat up and smiled at Haku.

"No," said Haku warily.

"I won't attack you," Naruto said with a smile as he began to collect the herbs needed, "Like I just said: it'll be against the rules of the deal." Haku nodded and they went to work on collecting herbs.

"Naruto," said Haku after a while. Naruto made a small sound telling him to continue. "Why do you want us to join you?"

At this Naruto smiled brightly and said, "Because you could be precious to me."

"What?"

"You could be precious to me. You could be my friend, but only if you give me the chance. That's why I made the deal. We all want you guys to be our friends."

Haku smiled and they began to collect the herbs again. When Haku's basket was full he went away and Naruto began to train again.

When Naruto returned that evening the food had just been placed on the table so he sat down and began to eat. He was aware of the child who was staring at him though.

"In a few more days," said Tazuna, "the bridge will be finished. I have you to thank for that."

"You've all done great," was Tsunami's worried reply, "but you still got to be careful."

"I've been meaning to ask you this, but I haven't had the chance until now. Why did you stay and protect me even after you found out I'd lied to bring you here?"

"There's a quote from the first hokage that we all remember," said Sakura.

"Those who stray from the path of justice," said Naruto.

"Have no courage," said Sakura.

"But under the wing of a strong leader," said Naruto.

"Cowardice cannot survive," said Sasuke.

"This is one of the many sayings that we all live by. We've even memorized it," Naruto said with a smile. Though he didn't say the other reason why they memorized it and many other sayings. In the future the three of them often used these sayings as ways to identify each other before they had learned the jutsu that connected their minds.

"But why?" said Inari as tears began to stream down his face, "All this stupid training is just a waste of time. Gatou's got a whole army. He'll beat you down and they'll destroy you. These cool things you all say, they don't mean anything. No matter what you do, the strong always win and the weak always lose."

"Speak for yourself," said Naruto, "It won't be like that for us."

"Why don't you be quiet? Just looking at you makes me sick. You don't know anything about this country. You're just butting in. Always laughing and playing around, you don't know what it's like to suffer and be treated like dirt!"

"No I don't," said Naruto quietly, "but you don't know what it's like to be treated lower then dirt. Not even worthy enough to be stepped on. You keep crying all the time like you've been going through the life that is the worst. You know how your life goes, but you know nothing about ours. We have suffered plenty. Sakura is always made fun of because of she's different then all the other girls. Sasuke lost all of his family except his parents to a massacre that was performed by his own brother," he paused for a moment, "You're one of the luckier ones. At least you have a family. I've had to grow up without one for all my life. I've had to deal with people glares and taunts. You have a whole village on your side, but I have a whole village that hates me. I constantly have to deal with being beaten up just because of something I can't control. For a long time in my life I didn't even have friends. So get out of your own sob story and see what you have instead of what you don't." With this Naruto stood and left the room.

"Inari," said Sakura, "My story isn't all that bad, but we do know what it means to suffer. We know what pain feels like, but the difference between us and you is that we learned how to deal with it and smile at the end of each day. And that is all because Naruto taught us how. If we hadn't met Naruto we would probably be wallowing in the depths of despair right now."

"If you compare all of our pasts Naruto's is the worst, but I've never seen him complain about. He just endures it and lives his life happily without any regrets," said Sasuke.

Both Sakura and Sasuke left the room leaving everyone shocked into silence. Even Inari was speechless though his tears were falling faster than they had been before.


	8. Chapter 8

The next day Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi accompanied the bridge-builder to the bridge and Naruto stayed behind. He had suggested that since the bridge was almost finished that he would not be needed to protect Tazuna. He had said that he would love to help Tsunami with some of the house work. Of course Sasuke and Sakura knew what was really going on. This was the day that all of them had been waiting for. They were going to fight Zabuza and Haku today and they knew that Gatou would try to attack Tsunami and Inari when they had gone. So they left Naruto behind telling him that when he was done helping Tsunami that he should meet them at the bridge.

"So what do you need help with Tsunami-san?" asked Naruto when the others left.

Tsunami turned to him with a smile and said, "I really don't need all that much help. Perhaps you could help me with the dishes and then we can make lunches for you to take with you to the bridge."

"I'd be glad to help in any way possible Tsunami-san," replied Naruto as he walked over to the sink and began to wash the dishes.

This went on for a little while with Naruto washing the dishes and then handing them to Tsunami who dried them and put them where they belonged. While they washed they also talked about nothing in particular. Mostly it was Tsunami who came up with the topics that they discussed for a few moments before they would move on to another subject.

Finally Naruto looked up to the clock, smiled, and said, "It looks like you have visitors Tsunami-san." She gave him a confused look while he went to the front door. He opened it to reveal two samurai walking up to him.

"Well look here," said one of them, "it's a little brat." This one was taller with brown hair and his torso was uncovered showing his muscles.

"It's probably just that Inari kid," said the other one as they came to stand before them. This one was shorter than the other with grey hair and he wore a big jacket that hid his true figure. Naruto made no move to either disapprove or approve their theory. "Move aside kid. We're gonna have a little chat with your mommy."

Naruto moved aside to let them in just as Tsunami-san walked in drying her hands. "What do you want?" she asked rather rudely.

"We want you to come with us to the bridge," answered the dark-haired one.

"If you come quietly we won't kill your little Inari," said the blonde one.

"I refuse," said Tsunami as Inari walked into the room.

"Mom what's going on?" asked Inari as he went to her side.

The two samurai gasped as they realized their mistake. They reached down to take out their swords as they turned to face Naruto, but their hands only grasped thin air. Both looked down at their belts to find that their swords were missing and then looked at Naruto to see him holding two swords that he did not have before. "When did you get those," they both growled.

"Well," answered Naruto as he inspected the swords with a grin, "I got them when you walked in the door. You guys aren't very good samurai. I mean you didn't even notice that your swords were missing and you pay no attention to detail. If you had you would have realized immediately that I am not Inari and Tsunami-san is not my mother. Your swords aren't all that good either. I'd say that you stole them from a common sword shop," with this his grin turned into a glare much worse than the Uchiha's, "I'll have to ask you to surrender or I will use the swords to cut your heads from your shoulders."

Both of the Samurais' eyes widened in fear. They threw their hands in the air to show signs of their giving up. Naruto looked over to Tsunami and smiled, "Could you please get some rope." She did so and after only a moment they were tied up on Tsunami's floor.

"You know we can escape from these ropes," said the dark-haired one with a smirk.

Naruto just grinned and pointed to the left of them where there was a big pile of small weapons. "Where did you get those?" gasped the blonde one recognizing the weapons as the ones he and his partner had concealed inside their clothing.

"While I was tieing you up. You didn't think I'd leave you guys here with a way to escape and capture Tsunami-san while I was away did you?" answered Naruto before turning to Tsunami and saying, "Well my work here is done. Now I must go and join my friends at the bridge to protect Tazuna-san. We'll be back in a bit so could you please have some medical equipment ready just in case any of us get hurt." He only gave Tsunami-san enough time to nod before he sped off towards the bridge.

* * *

Team 7, not including Naruto, and Tazuna arrived at the bridge to find all of the bridge-builders unconscious. "What's going on?" yelled Tazuna.

Sakura and Sasuke immediately moved into defensive positions in order to protect the bridge-builder.

"What happened? Someone was here. Someone got to them!" gasped Tazuna

Both the genin were on high alert as the mist began to surround them. "Sorry I've kept you waiting brats. I see the blondie isn't here with you. I bet he's too afraid that I'd come," came Zabuza's voice out of the mist.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," was Sasuke's only answer as he was able to see Zabuza come out of the fog.

Zabuza paused just as he was about to perform a seal with his hands, "What are you talking about brat?" he growled.

"You were about to make water clones to fight us," answered Sasuke. Zabuza's eyes widened a fraction of an inch in surprise which only Sasuke and Sakura saw.

"Come on even I saw that one coming. That seal that you were just about to perform is a dead give away," said Sakura.

Zabuza growled and performed the seal with no head to the warnings of the little genin. Immediately water clones surrounded the four of them. Sasuke just shrugged and before anyone could say anything the water clones had been destroyed and he was returning to his place to protect Tazuna.

"You caught me off guard last time, brat. I won't be defeated by you so easily this time," he hissed.

Sasuke smirked. "Of course you won't," he said smugly, "because this time I'm going to be fighting Haku." And with this he again ran forward with a simple shuriken in his hand.

He and Haku fought until they reached a stale mate where each had one hand occupied by defending themselves from the other's attack. "We want the bridge-builder, not you," said Haku without any hint of an emotion in his voice, "If you back down now, I won't have to kill you."

"Save it," was Sasuke's only answer.

"You're making a mistake. You won't be able to keep up with my speed," said Haku, "I've gained two key advantages."

"Yea. I know," answered Sasuke, "You're a ninja from the village hidden in the mist which makes it so that your element would be water and we're surrounded by water right now."

"But that's not the only advantage I've gained. I've blocked one of your hands. Therefore, you only have one free hand to defend yourself," with this he began making hand signs with only one hand. After only a moment he said, "Secret jutsu: Thousand needles of death," as he stomped his right foot on the ground making water splash into the air. The water began to shape shift into needles that surrounded the two of them. As soon as they were done forming the needles thrust forward to hit Sasuke as Haku jumped away, but their target was not met. Just before they had hit him Sasuke had thrown himself into the air.

From the air he threw three shuriken at Haku, which were dodged easily, then he appeared behind him. "You're not as fast as you think. I've fought people who are much faster than you are." Haku moved away and turned to try to hit Sasuke, but he blocked the needle with his kunai and threw another at Haku. Haku dropped to the floor to dodge the kunai, but he was to slow to dodge the kick to the face when it came towards him. He flew back a little ways while Sasuke just stood there and watched him fly. "Thought you were quicker, huh? Now what else are you wrong about?" said Sasuke with a smirk on his face. Sakura almost laughed when she remembered the first time. It had been a lot alike, but now was different because Sasuke knew his opponent and so he couldn't be caught off guard like he was last time.

"You made a big mistake insulting these ninjas and calling them brats. That's just guaranteed to bring out Sasuke's attitude," Kakashi said and Sakura almost laughed at Kakashi's assumption. Though it was true that Sasuke looked like he had a big attitude she and Naruto could see that he was having fun most of the time, and his attitude was nothing to them now. Right now he was only using the cocky attitude, which he never used now because he learned a long time ago that cockiness only led to death, because it was a joke to him that he was repeating everything that he had done in the past. He also wanted them to think that he was stupid enough to let cockiness get the best of him. "and he's the best young fighter of the Hidden Leave Village. And Sakura here is our sharpest mind. And, though he's not here right now Naruto has the best defense."

"Kakashi-sensei, you know you're not supposed to give away any information about the team. Even more so if you're bragging," scolded Sakura, "It puts the team in a dangerous situation because now the enemy can use our information to find our weakness." But Sakura really didn't care that Kakashi had said those words because she not that they were not correct. Kakashi was only really going off of what he saw in their school records. The truth was that, even though none of them showed it, they all knew at least a little of every subject, and that they were much stronger than even Kakashi knew, but she still had to scold him for giving away their information, even if it was incorrect, because that is almost the same as selling your teammates out.

"Get on with it Haku," growled Zabuza.

"Right," said Haku standing up. He began to let chakra seep out of his body into the air to cool it down. "I'm sorry it's come to this," he put his hands into a hand sign and ice began to form behind Sasuke, "Secret Jutsu," Sasuke was surrounded by mirrors made out of ice, "Crystal ice mirrors!"

"What is that?" asked Kakashi, "How does it work?"

They watched as Haku walked into one of the mirrors and his image appeared on the mirror's face. The rest of the mirrors reflected the very same image.

Kakashi growled and ran to try and help Sasuke. "Wait!" yelled Sakura behind him, but she was too stop him as Zabuza appeared before him. "Darn it Kakashi. You're going to ruin everything."

* * *

"Now we'll begin," came Haku's voice from the mirror, "and I'll show you what speed really means." Needles began to be thrown towards Sasuke, but he merely blocked them by moving his kunai in their way until one exceptionally hard thrown needle knocked it out of his hand. At that point Sasuke just dodged all of the attacks by spinning and jumping over them.

"How is that possible?" gasped Haku, "No one can see my speed."

Sasuke looked up at the top mirror and Haku was able to see his eyes. The blood red color of his eyes gave Haku the feeling that this boy had seen more than his fair share of blood and death. "I can see you up there. Your speed is nothing to my eyes, and I know someone who can be even quicker than you. He's the only person who moves fast enough that not even I can see," Sasuke smirked. He performed a couple of hand signs and then made a circle with his thumb and forefinger and blew through it creating a large ball of fire. The fire engulfed the top mirror, but nothing happened.

"You cannot melt these mirrors. It is impossible," said Haku.

"Is it?" asked Sasuke, "Do you think that's true Naruto?"

Haku gasped as he noticed that Naruto was with them inside the house of mirrors. He hadn't even noticed the child come in.

"I think it's possible. You just need the right combination," he said, "Perhaps a little wind will help."

"Perhaps," answered Sasuke.

At this Naruto lifted his hand before him as chakra began to form in it. The chakra slowly compressed to form a ball. Then he moved his other hand close to the ball and began adding in wind energy. The ball expanded and took on the form of a giant shuriken. He held it between his hands as it began to expand until he could no longer hold it. The ball kept expanding until it encompassed the whole house of mirrors, but there was a ball within it that had no chakra that surrounded Sasuke and Naruto. "Now all's we need is that fire," said Naruto.

"Gladly," said Sasuke as he performed the fire ball jutsu again. As soon as the fire hit the wall of chakra the whole thing burst into flames. It attacked the mirrors with thousands of needles of chakra and with a burning fire.

When the jutsu cleared away all the mirrors were melting and cracked. They shattered into a million pieces and fell around them like a shower of silvery light. In the middle of the shower Haku fell to the ground. Naruto walked up to him and turned him over to find that his mask had cracked and fallen off. "Are you alright?" asked Naruto.

Haku just looked at him. "Why would you care?" he asked.

"I already told you. You could be precious to me," Naruto smiled, "Now let's help you up. Sakura will be able to heal you in a jiffy." He and Sasuke helped Haku up and walked over to where Tazuna was. Naruto was surprised to find Sakura there. "Why are you here Sakura? You should be fighting Zabuza right now. Where's Kakashi?"

"I'm sorry Naruto," answered Sakura as she kneeled down to heal Haku. "Kakashi ran off before I could stop him and I couldn't leave Tazuna-san here by himself."

Naruto's eyes widened. "What?" he gasped. He turned to Sasuke and said, "Don't let him leave here," before he disappeared.

"What's going on?" asked Sasuke.

"I don't know," answered Sakura, "Last time I was crying over your body at this moment."

Suddenly Haku gasped and tried to sit up. "Don't move," cried Sakura trying to force him to lay back down, "I haven't finished healing you yet."

"Zabuza-san is in danger," gasped Haku.

"Don't worry," said Sakura, "Naruto will save him."

"But he can't," said Haku, "I don't know why he can even still move."

"What do you mean?" asked Sasuke.

"I threw some poisoned needles at you just after the jutsu ended," said Haku.

"But I didn't get hit," said Sasuke.

"He was standing in front of you. He only needed to move a little to the side," said Haku.

"What?" gasped both Sasuke and Sakura.

Haku tried to get up again, "I'm sorry, but I have to save Zabuza-san."

This time it was Sasuke's turn to push Haku back down. "I can't let you do that. Naruto has trusted me to keep you here. Which means you aren't leaving."

"Sasuke look!" gasped Sakura, "The fog is clearing."

Sasuke looked around to find what looked to be a big dark blob through the fog. He watched as the fog lifted to reveal Naruto standing in front of Zabuza with Kakashi's hand stuck in his chest as he held the blade of Zabuza's sword aside with a kunai. Both Zabuza and Kakashi had wide eyes as Naruto just stood there trying to catch his breath. "I said," Naruto gasped for air, "that we…weren't…going t-to…kill them," said Naruto as he coughed up blood.

Kakashi drew his hand out of Naruto and reached forward to catch him, but Naruto did not fall. "Naruto," Kakashi said, "Why?"

"Because…they deserve…to live. If for nothing else…than Haku deserves…to live a happy life…with the person he loves…more than anything in the world."

At this Zabuza's eyes widened and he looked over to see Haku staring at him and for the first time he could understand what the look in Haku's eyes were. That look was love. And then he realized that the reason he had taken Haku in was because he loved him. And at that moment he wanted to be by Haku's side more than anything in the world.

"Tell…your dogs…to get off him…Kakashi-sensei," said Naruto holding his hand against his chest where he was trying to stop the bleeding. The dogs disappeared and Naruto was happy to see that Zabuza went immediately to Haku's side to make sure he was all right. Kakashi watched as Naruto swayed, but he still did not fall. He wanted to move forward and help Naruto, but for some reason he couldn't move.

"I must say I'm disappointed in you Zabuza," came a voice. Everyone looked over to see Zabuza standing there with a whole bunch of thugs behind him.

Naruto turned to look at him with the deadliest look in his eyes. They were slitted like the fox's and it gave him and heir of deadly intent. "You," said Naruto, "I'm afraid…you can't live…any longer."

"Enough of this," yelled Gatou as he disappeared in the crowd of his thugs, "Kill them."

Before anyone could move to stop him Naruto was on the railing of the bridge running to the end of it where Gatou stood. Many of the thugs tried to stop him, but he just jumped over their attacks and continued going. When he reached the end of the railing he jumped off it and without missing a beat he ran straight at Gatou and thrust his clawed hands into Gatou's unprotected throat. Gatou's face was frozen in a look of shock as he fell to the ground without any life in his body.

Kakashi almost couldn't believe his eyes. If someone had told him that Naruto had done all of this than he would have laughed in their face. Naruto was the weakest link to the whole. This just made him wonder what the others could do. He watched as Sasuke took the same root that Naruto had in order to go and grab him. As soon as Sasuke reached him Naruto fainted and Sasuke brought him back to lay him in front of Sakura who immediately began to heal him. This also surprised Kakashi because he didn't know that she had already started training to be a medic nin.

"Is he going to be okay?" asked Haku as he sat up with Zabuza's help.

"He'll be fine," said Sakura, "Just a slight fever for a while."

"What about the poison?" asked Haku.

"What poison?" asked Kakashi as he was now standing with them.

"That's what the fever is from," answered Sakura, "Poison doesn't affect him the same way it affects a normal person." Haku nodded at this and Kakashi made a mental note that he would have to ask them about that later.

"Hey!" yelled one of the thugs while slamming a stick on the ground, "Yoohoo. Don't go getting to comfortable."

"This party ain't over yet. Who's gonna pay us now that Gatou's gone," said another.

"No way we're going to leave here empty handed," said the first one, "So we'll just have to hit that village and see what they've got for us." There was a chorus of "Yea," that ran throughout the thugs. "Get them."

The thugs moved forward only to be stopped by an arrow. "There's one thing your forgetting about. Before you set one foot into our village you have to go through all of us," yelled a man that they all recognized to be Inari's uncle. He was standing with a whole bunch of villagers behind him and a brave little Inari in front of him with the bow he had used to shoot the arrow.

Sasuke smirked and stood up. "Shadow clone jutsu," he said and twenty of him appeared on the bridge.

"I might have just enough chakra to help you out," said Kakashi as he did the same jutsu and twenty of him appeared saying, "Okay you still want to fight."

"No way," yelled one of the thugs as they ran to get on the boat.

"Victory!" yelled Inari and all the villagers celebrated.

* * *

After a couple of days and many insistent remarks from Naruto that he was fine and ready to go home team 7 and Zabuza and Haku headed home. They took the bridge which was again named the great Naruto bridge. Leaving a very happy Inari and a strong village to get back up on.

* * *

this is longer than i thought it would be, but oh well. sorry for taking so long. i had really bad writer's block.


	9. Chapter 9

Sasuke and Sakura were waiting at the bridge where team 7 always met for Naruto and Kakashi to get there. It had been a week since they got back from the fight on the Naruto bridge and everyone was all healed, but Kakashi had yet to ask them about how they managed to do all the things that they did during the fight. They knew he was going to, they could see it in his eye, but he was waiting for some reason. This worried them because they knew that the chunin exams were coming up soon and there would be enemy ninja who could overhear what they had to say which would make them lose their advantage.

"Hey Sakura! Hey Sasuke!" called Naruto as he approached him. He did not yell, he had stopped raising his voice unless he absolutely needed to a long time ago, but his voice was still loud.

"Hey Naruto," said Sakura, "How are you feeling today?"

"Sakura," Naruto took on a completely serious voice, "I'm fine. You know I heal faster than anyone even without his help."

"Yea," said Sakura, "But you also always lie to us and say that you're fine when you aren't."

"Come on Sakura. You know I would never lie to you," he said

"You would if you thought that it was in our better interest not to know," answered Sasuke, "and when you don't want us to worry about you."

Naruto just pouted at them because he knew that they knew him best. After a moment Naruto brightened up and turned to Sasuke, "Do you want to play Shogi?"

Sasuke shrugged and sat down as Naruto pulled out a scroll and summoned a shogi board.

After about two hours Kakashi appeared before them saying, "I'm sorry I'm late, but I got lost on the road of life."

Naruto giggle and Sakura said, "Of course you did," with obvious sarcasm while Sasuke just rolled his eyes. Naruto and Sasuke stood up and the shogi board disappeared back into the scroll.

"What is our mission today?" asked Naruto as he replaced the scroll in his kunai bag.

"We don't have a mission today," answered Kakashi-sensei surprising all three of them, "Instead I need to talk to you about one of our previous missions at the Naruto Bridge."

"Oh finally," said Sakura.

"We thought that you were going to ask us at a point that was really inconvenient," said Naruto.

"And what point would be so inconvenient?" asked Kakashi.

"It doesn't matter since it's not going to happen so what are you going to ask us about," said Sasuke.

"Ah, yes," said Kakashi, "I have a few questions actually. One: what were you thinking when you ran off to fight Haku on your own?"

"I was thinking that I could beat Haku, which I did," answered Sasuke which earned him a suspicious look from Kakashi.

"Two: when did you begin to learn medical jutsu?"

"I began learning a while ago Kakashi-sensei. Naruto always seems to get injured somehow or another," answered Sakura referring to both when they were fighting and Naruto tried to defend them and when the villagers attacked him.

"Three: where did you learn to fight like that?"

"I taught myself. I've been training since I was really young," answered Naruto.

"Four: if the weakest link of the group is that strong than how strong are you two?" asked Kakashi looking at Sakura and Sasuke.

There was a long pause as they stared at their sensei in shock. "I believe you are mistaken," said Sakura with anger in her eyes.

"You are the weakest link," Sasuke said right after.

Kakashi's eyes widened at their accusation, but before he could say anything Naruto spoke up. "You shouldn't say that. None of you should. It was unkind to make those accusations. Now let's all calm down before we get into a fight." Sakura looked at Naruto guiltily while Sasuke glared at the ground. "Look. A bird," said Naruto as though the bird was such a rare occurrence that happened all the time.

Kakashi looked up to see that the bird was a messenger bird sent to call him to the Hokage's office. He sighed before dismissing his students and looking back at the bird with a suspicious eye.

As Kakashi disappeared the three students looked at each other with knowing eyes. They were all thinking the same thing, _Chunin exams.

* * *

_

Team seven was walking along the road with Konohamaru and his friends after they played a game of ninja, which Naruto had to beg the two of them to participate in with them, when Konohamaru ran into Kankurou. "Do you need something?" asked Kankurou. He reached down and picked up the Third's grandson by his scarf and said, "So, does this hurt punk?"

"Kankurou put him down," said Temari, "Or you know you'll pay for it later."

"Let him go," Sakura demanded.

"You don't want anyone to see that you're hurting little kids do you?" asked Naruto, "Kankurou of the sand."

"How do you know who we are?" asked Temari.

Sasuke just shrugged and threw a rock that he picked up off the ground at Kankurou's hand forcing him to drop Kankurou who ran straight to Naruto. "You're a long way from home and you're way out of your league."

"Hey punk," said Kankurou, "get over here so I can repay you for hurting my hand. You're the kind of pesky little brat I hate the most. All attitude and nothing to back it up." He pulled on the strap that held his bandaged pack on his back and moved it so that it rested in front of him.

"What?" gasped Temari, "You're going to use the crow for this?"

"You shouldn't use your puppet on us so soon," said Naruto with a smile making both the sand ninjas gasp.

"It would give anyone who's watching an unfair advantage because they could find the weakness to your puppets," said Sakura.

"How the hell-" growled Kankurou as he began to advance towards them, but he was interrupted by another voice.

"Kankurou," said Gaara from the tree beside them, "Back off. You're an embarrassment to our village."

"Hey Gaara," Kankurou said sheepishly.

"Have you forgotten the reason we came all the way here.

"I-I know," stuttered Kankurou, "I-I-I mean they challenged us. They started the whole thing really. See, here's what happened-"

"Shut up," said Gaara.

"Aw there was no need to tell him to shut up Gaara," whined Naruto, "I was actually interested in what his lame excuse would be."

The two older sand ninjas looked at Naruto like he was crazy while Gaara stared at him with surprise. No one had ever spoken against him before and that weakling was talking to him as though they were long time friends. It made him feel almost happy to have someone talk to him like that, but he kept it hidden well. "I'm sorry for any trouble he caused," he said. He used his sand to allow him to transport himself from the tree to stand before his siblings. "Let's go. We didn't come here to play games."

"All right sure," said Kankurou.

As they began to walk away Sakura moved forward and said, "Hold on one minute."

"What?" asked Temari.

"We just wanted to tell you that you won't be destroying our village," Sasuke said nonchalantly.

The three sand ninjas whipped around and sand began to surround Sasuke's body.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said Naruto calmly, "Gaara of the sand. Carrier of the one-tailed demon named Shukaku. It would give away your intentions, but if you let us be no one would believe what weak genin say." Gaara glared at him before allowing his sand to return to the gourd on his back.

"It doesn't matter since we're here for the chunin exams and not to destroy some weak village," said Temari.

"Who are you anyway?" asked Kankurou.

"I'm-" began Sakura, but she was cut off by Kankurou.

"I don't care about you. I was asking the only strong one of your group who hit me with a pebble."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke."

"I am curious about you too," said Gaara looking at Naruto, "Who are you?"

Naruto smiled and said, "My name is Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm determined to be your friend whether you want me to or not."

Again Gaara felt that warm feeling, but again he hid it. The three sand ninjas walked away quietly. All of them thinking about the group of genin leaf ninjas that they had just met.

* * *

The next day found team seven waiting for Kakashi at their bridge with Sasuke taking a nap on Naruto's lap and Naruto cutting Sakura's hair so that it wouldn't get in her face. In the future Sakura didn't like going to get her haircut professionally done so Naruto learned how to do her hairstyle as though it was done professionally. They were both happy to find that he hadn't forgotten how to do this when they became young again.

Kakashi appeared just as Naruto was finishing up with her hair. "Hey, good morning everyone," he said which woke Sasuke up, "I'm sorry I'm late. I'm afraid I got lost on the path of life."

"Tsk, tsk Kakashi-sensei," said Sakura as she waved her finger at him.

"You used that excuse yesterday," said Sasuke.

"It's no fun if you repeat yourself," said Naruto.

"I know this is a bit sudden," said Kakashi completely ignoring what his team had said, "but I recommended you for the chunin exams. All three of you. These are the application forms," he handed them three sheets of paper, "This is all voluntary it's up to each of you. If you don't feel ready you can wait til next year."

"And hold the rest of the team back," said Sakura.

"What?" asked Kakashi.

"Come on Kakashi we're not stupid," said Sasuke.

"We know that the chunin exams have to be performed in a three man team or the team cannot participate," said Naruto happily.

"That's not true," said Kakashi, "Whoever wants to take the exams has to sign the form and then turn it in at room 301 at 3 p.m. 5 days from now. That's it."


	10. Chapter 10

Naruto was walking along the road the very next day when he came across Konohamaru and his friend. "Hey Naruto!" called Konohamaru, "Come and play ninja with us please."

"Sure," Naruto smiled kindly at them, "I don't have any missions or training today some I'm sure it'll be fine."

The three little ones cheered in excitement, but they did not see the figure appear behind Moegi. The figure grabbed Moegi while laughing evilly and jumped up to the high archway that stood above them.

"AAh!" screamed Moegi, "Naruto, Konohamaru, Help!"

"What are you doing with Moegi you big slug," yelled Konohamaru.

The figure laughed and ran off quickly with Naruto, Konohamaru, and Udon following.

After only a few minutes Naruto had lost Konohamaru and Udon, but he didn't care since he knew that they would catch up to him later as they did the last time this happened.

The figure stopped at a big tree and began tying up Moegi.

"No!" she screamed, "You let me go!" but before she could say anymore the person gagged her.

The figure laughed, "I thought the hidden leaf village had powerful ninja, but now I see you're nothing. Just a bunch of weaklings." Naruto landed on the ground from the trees at that very moment. "Well that was quick," said the figure as he turned around. What he saw surprised even him. Naruto's eyes weren't full of determination to save Moegi, but they were filled with disappointment.

Naruto shook his head. "I can't believe you," he said quietly, "You would think that my own sensei might trust me enough to believe that I could participate in the chunin exams."

"What are you talking about?" asked the figure.

"Iruka-sensei. I can't believe you don't trust me. I think of you as a father figure and you don't even trust that I can handle myself. You think that I'm weak. You disappoint me."

"You think of me as a father?" gasped the figure.

"Yes," Naruto nodded, "Now let Moegi go. She has nothing to do with your disbelief in me. I thought you were supposed to be cheering me on Iruka-sensei. Not trying to hold me back."

"Naruto it's not like that," said Iruka as he stepped forward and turned into his real self, but Naruto just stepped back.

"Let Moegi go," he said.

Iruka did and Moegi ran straight to Naruto. "Why would you kidnap me?" asked Moegi.

Naruto leaned down and said, "Moegi, you're much too young to understand why things happen in this world," then he reached up and tapped her forehead making her fall unconscious.

"I'm disappointed Iruka-sensei," said Naruto.

"But Naruto-" Iruka tried.

"I'll see you later Iruka-sensei," Naruto cut him off and then he left with Moegi in his arms leaving a shocked Iruka to stand in the clearing and wonder how Naruto had figured out that it was him who used that jutsu since Naruto had always been so weak in his eyes.

* * *

Sakura was sitting just outside her window thinking about the chunin exams. She wondered if it would be the same this time, but she had the feeling that something was going to be different.

"Hey!" came Sasuke's voice.

"Sasuke," Sakura gasped dreamily, "Uh, what's up?"

"Let's take a walk," he said, "Just you and me."

"No way," Sakura blushed, "You mean it?"

"Yea," Sasuke answered.

"Ok, hold on a second," Sakura said happily.

She hurried down to go see him and they walked quietly until they reached a clearing filled with mist. "So Sasuke, why do you want to go on a walk with me all of a sudden," she asked.

"Because I need to tell you to give up on the chunin exams," said Sasuke, "There's no way you can pass them Sakura."

"I was afraid of that," Sakura looked at the ground with a depressed looked, "You're right Sasuke."

"These ninja are very advanced and they have no mercy. If you try to fight them you could lose your life."

"But Sasuke," she said regaining her happiness, "You're telling me this because you care about me."

"I-uh-guess that's true," Sasuke said with a smile.

In answer to this Sakura laughed. Not a fangirl giggle because her crush said he cared about her, but a full on laugh. "Are you stupid?" she asked.

Sasuke gave her a quizzical look, "what do you mean?"

"You just assumed that since I was a girl and every girl in leaf village has a crush on Sasuke that I did too," she laughed, "You didn't even bother to look into the fact that Sasuke and I have been friends for a long time. Not to mention we both like someone else now."

"Wh-what?" gasped the Sasuke-look-alike.

"I know you're just an illusion, but you would think that Iruka-sensei would have thought of a better one seeing as I've never even swooned over Sasuke like his fangirls do. I just hang out with him because he's my friend."

"You too!" said the Sasuke-look-alike.

"What do you mean me too?" she asked.

"I can understand you knowing that it was me seeing as you were one of the smartest ninjas in my class," he sighed, "but even Naruto knew that it was me."

"Are you implying that Naruto is stupid Iruka-sensei," said Sakura as her eyes grew cold.

"Of course he is," said Iruka, "He always gets the worst marks in the class."

"I can't believe you," said Sakura, "He thinks of you as a father figure and you say he's stupid. If you were here right now I would punch you so hard, but since you aren't I'll just have to leave and go console Naruto since right now he's probably being depressed that his own father figure can't think highly of him." And with that she left leaving Iruka hiding in the bushes feeling guilt wash over him for what he had said.

* * *

Sasuke was walking in the forest when he felt a presence behind him. "Don't even bother Iruka-sensei," he said, "You know I'll beat you anyway."

"How did you know it was me?" asked Iruka-sensei as he came out of the bushes not even bothering to put on the disguise.

"I was taught by the best," answered Sasuke.

"I never taught you how to read and know someone's chakra signature. That's not part of the curriculum."

"I never said you were the one I learned from," answered Sasuke.

"Your family taught you that at such a young age?" Iruka gasped.

"No."

"Then who did you learn from?"

"None of your business," answered Sasuke as he walked away.

* * *

Iruka found Kakashi watching the moon on top of a roof.

"So how did it go?" asked Kakashi.

"They all made it," he answered, "but your team…"

This made Kakashi turn to look at him. "What about my team?" he asked suspiciously.

"Your whole team knew who I was somehow," answered Iruka making Kakashi's eyes widen, "They were the best. Did you teach them how to read and know chakra signatures?"

"No," answered Kakashi, "I didn't even know they could do that."

Iruka sighed, "You were right Kakashi. They're good. They've all developed very impressive skills."

"But the chunin exams can break anyone," mumbled Kakashi, "We'll see if they can tough it out."

"Kakashi?" asked Iruka.

"Mm?" answered Kakashi.

"Your whole team knew who I was and they all seemed disappointed in me," sighed Iruka sadly, "Even Naruto knew who I was."

"Yes," said Kakashi, "If Naruto, the weakest of the three knew who you were don't you think that the other two would too."

"But what if he's not the weakest?" asked Iruka.

Kakashi laughed, "If you ever saw them actually fight than you would take that back. Naruto is the weakest."

Iruka just shook his head and said, "You're not even trying to use your most used teachings. Look underneath the underneath."

"Sakura and Sasuke are always the ones fighting," answered Kakashi, "Until Naruto proves his strength he will always be weak."

"Kakashi," said Iruka, "You can't make them into your old team. Just because they remind you of your old team does not mean that they are exactly alike." And with this Iruka left thinking about why he had said that. He knew about Kakashi's old team, but even he thought that Naruto was the weakest link so why was he standing up for him like that?

* * *

sorry this is such a short chapter.


	11. Chapter 11

On the day of the chunin exam Sasuke and Sakura were waiting outside of the Konoha academy for Naruto. Sakura was pacing with a worried look and Sasuke watched her curiously from his perch against the wall. After a few moments of watching her pace without pause Sasuke finally said, "What's wrong Sakura?"

"Naruto isn't here yet," she answered looking around them for the fifth time.

"Don't worry," Sasuke said nonchalantly, "He'll be here in time."

"That's not what I'm worried about," answered Sakura, "and I haven't been able to get a hold of him since two days ago. I've been trying to find him everywhere."

"Perhaps he just need some space," Sasuke shrugged, "Don't worry Sakura."

"Hey guys," said Naruto as he appeared next to them.

"Naruto!" gasped Sakura turning to face him, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Sakura," Naruto smiled, "I just wasn't feeling well."

"You should have come to me," said Sakura with a concerned look, "or Sasuke."

"That's not what I'm talking about."

"Yes it is," said Sakura, "I know you're talking about what Iruka said."

"What did he say?" asked Sasuke.

"He said that he thought Naruto was stupid," growled Sakura.

"What?" yelled Sasuke as he pushed away from his relaxed pose into one of anger, "Why the hell would he say such a thing."

"I don't know Sasuke," Sakura shook her head.

"I do," answered Naruto making the both of them look at him, "and I can't blame him either."

"Why?" asked Sakura.

Naruto sighed. "Sakura, Sasuke, did you know that Iruka-sensei hated me when I first became his student?" both of them shook their heads, "Well he did. In fact he repeatedly went to the Hokage to ask that I be put in a different class," Sakura gasped and Sasuke's eyes widened, "It was because of the Kyuubi. He hated me, just like everyone else, because the Kyuubi was sealed inside me. He hated me because the Kyuubi killed his parents. It was only when I almost got killed because people tricked me into thinking that I could be their friends if I went into a forest that had enemy ninja in it that Iruka finally excepted me consciously, but his mind still subconsciously connects me to the Kyuubi so he doesn't want me to be strong. The same goes for Kakashi-sensei."

"What?" gasped Sakura, "but I thought Kakashi-sensei didn't care about the Kyuubi."

Naruto shook his head, "He doesn't. He subconsciously connects me to Obito which makes him think I'm weak because Obito was weaker than him."

"That's so horrible," said Sakura as she hugged Naruto, "to be judged by other people."

Naruto shook his head again. "It's how the world works," he said, "People are judged by what they remind other people of. Just like Sasuke is judged to be a prodigy because he is part of the Uchiha-clan."

"It's still horrible," mumbled Sakura.

Naruto smiled and patted her head as he said, "Let's go inside now. We wouldn't want to be late to the chunin exams."

* * *

When they arrived to where a large group of the ninja the first thing they heard was someone getting punched. When they looked closer they realized it was Lee who got hit. He tumbled back allowing Tenten to catch him.

"Tch," said one of the guys who hit him, "You're taking the chunin exams and you can't even get past us?"

"Why don't you just give up now," said the one with brown hair, "Before you get yourselves hurt."

"Yeah," said the first one who had bandages on his face and black hair, "I think I hear your mommy coming."

"You shouldn't be so smug," said Naruto as he and the rest of the team moved forward.

The two ninjas looked at him, "And what are you talking about?"

"Isn't it obvious?" said Sasuke with a smirk.

"What?" everybody in the background asked.

"It's totally obvious that you guys are jounin using some sort of transformation jutsu," said Sakura.

"It's not even a fair fight for you to go up against them," said Naruto. With this the team began to move on without paying further notice to anyone else in the room.

The two ninjas eyes widened, but they didn't want to give away that the genins saw through their disguise so the brown haired one said, "You guys are the idiots."

"You are already giving up," said the black haired one.

"What are you talking about," asked Naruto with a look of total confusion, "We're going to turn in our admission forms just as we were supposed to."

The brown haired one laughed, "Don't you remember that you're supposed to turn those in at room 301 which is right here." He pointed to the sign behind him.

"You must be blind," said Sasuke, "That sign clearly says 201."

All the ninjas looked back at the sign to say that the sign did indeed read 201 and the two jounins stared shocked because they hadn't even realized that their genjutsu had been released.

Team 7 walked on up the stairs with all the rest of the ninjas following them until they reached the door that led to room 301. They didn't even hesitate as they walked through the door as a team and entered the room as only one. Naruto looked around for his teammates, but he only saw other ninjas who seemed to be just as confused as the others. When he looked closer he realized that this room didn't have any exits and this made him very suspicious. He located Kiba and Ino were standing near eachother, though Ino didn't seem to happy about that, with Akamaru standing in front of them so he went to join them.

Just as he was about to reach them he hear Sakura's voice in his head _"Naruto where are you?"_

"_I'm fine Sakura. I think this is part of the chunin exams this time around. Is Sasuke with you?" _he asked as he leaned against the wall next to Kiba who was screaming that he should be let free because he was supposed to be competing in the chunin exams.

"_Yeah Naruto. I think only one person of each team was separated from the others," _answered Sasuke's voice.

"_Naruto?" _came Sakura's concerned voice, _"Is-"_

"_Yes Sakura," _answered Naruto without letting her finish, _"She's here Sakura."_

"_Okay," _Sakura sighed in relief.

"LET ME OUT OF HERE YOU BASTARDS!" yelled Kiba making Naruto wince.

"Kiba," he said, "You're drawing attention to yourself. The last thing we need is for everyone to hate us in this test." He noticed by the corner of his eye that Ino sighed in relief. Apparently Kiba was annoying her. He would have laughed if at that very moment something foul caught his eye.

"_Apparently Kabuto was sent to this room as well," _he told his team. He felt both of them tense, but they said nothing.

"You might try keeping it down a little," said Kabuto as they approached the three of them, "I mean no offense, but you are three of the nine rookies right? Fresh out of the academy. I wouldn't go making a spectacle of yourselves." Naruto stepped forward slightly making sure that he was in a good position to defend against Kabuto if it was needed though he highly doubted it. "Just cool it," said Kabuto, "This isn't a class field trip."

"Well who asked you?" Ino asked angrily, "Who are you?"

"My name is Kabuto Yakushi," he answered, "but really look around you. You've made quite an impression."

Both Kiba and Ino looked around to see that all of the genin in the room were glaring at them, but Naruto kept his eyes warily on Kabuto.

"These people are very touchy," said Kabuto, "This exam makes everyone tense, and you don't want to rub them the wrong way right now," he sighed, "You can't help it. How could you know how things work? You're just rookies. You remind me of myself a while back."

"Except we'll never betray our village," mumbled Naruto so that no one could hear.

"What did you say?" asked Kabuto.

"None of your business," answered Naruto glaring at him.

"This isn't the first time you've taken the exam?" asked Ino.

"No it's…my seventh," he replied uneasily.

"Well that's a lie," mumbled Naruto.

"What?" asked Kabuto.

"Nothing."

"You must be a veteran. You must really be an expert by now," said Ino.

"Cool," said Kiba excitedly, "You can give us all the inside tips."

"Well," said Kabuto digging in his weapons bag, "Maybe I can help you out a bit with my info cards."

"What the heck are those?" asked Ino.

"These have information on everything I've learned over the past four years," he crouched down and placed his cards on the ground. "I've got over two hundred of them. You see I haven't been wasting my time. They may not look like much to the naked eye. In fact," he flipped the card on top, "they appear blank. Don't want just anyone to see this stuff." He placed his middle finger on top of the card and began to turn it until it showed a map.

"Awesome," said Ino, "a map. Of what?"

"It shows the geographical distribution of all the candidates that have come to take the chunin exams, what villages they come from, and how many from each village," he looked up at them, "Why do you think that they all come together to take the exam at the same time?"

"It's the fostered friendship between nations," answered Naruto, "and they can regulate the total number of ninja that end up in each village in order to maintain the balance of power."

"That's right Naruto," said Kabuto as though it was a great accomplishment made by a small child.

Naruto twitched. "Do those cards of yours have any info on other people?" he asked.

"They might," answered Kabuto, "Do you have someone special in mind?"

"As a matter of fact I do," said Naruto.

"Naruto!" gasped Ino, "I won't let you know all of Sasuke's secrets."

"Who said I was interested in Sasuke's info card?" asked Naruto, "His information on Sasuke is probably incorrect anyway. I want to know about a man who might be a danger to Konoha."

"Oh really?" asked Kabuto, "Who is it?"

"Orochimaru," answered Naruto.

"Wh-what?" stuttered Kabuto trying to regain his composure.

"Who the hell is Orochimaru?" asked Kiba.

"You're so stupid Naruto!" yelled Ino.

"From the looks of it," said Kabuto, "All of the villages have brought exceptionally strong ninja candidates to the exam this time around."

"Perhaps they're getting ready for a war," mumbled Naruto making Kabuto's eyes widen momentarily.

"Naruto you need to stop saying stupid things," said Ino, "Even Kiba isn't as bad as you."

"Of course the hidden sound village sprang up recently. No one know anything about it," said Kabuto, "Those guys are a mystery."

"On the contrary," smirked Naruto, "I know quite a lot about the sound village and the ninjas that live there."

"Well," said Kabuto trying to cover up his nervousness, "you get the point. The competition is going to be tense this year."

"My name is Kiba Inuzuka," yelled Kiba pointing at all of the candidates in the room, "and I'm gonna beat every one of ya."

At this Naruto finally tore his wary stare away from Kabuto to laugh hysterically at Kiba's idiocy. Even when he said that he was using a mask and knew it was probably a huge mistake, but Kiba had no mask and was actually making the mistake.

"What are you trying to do idiot," yelled Ino, "Get us killed."

"Yea," Kiba said, "I feel a lot better now."

"Now if only you had the ability to back up those words," laughed Naruto.

At that moment a sound ninja appeared and threw two kunai at them. Naruto easily caught them and threw them back at the sound ninja. "You think that's going to affect us?" he asked, "If you used your wind it might have helped you a bit."

The sound ninja fell to the ground and stared shocked at him. "How did you know about my jutsu?" he asked.

Naruto just shrugged.

At that moment smoke began to fill the room. With one sniff Naruto knew what it was and he gasped remembering the Akamaru was not in his master's jacket because he knew that sleeping gas could be fatal to a dog. He launched himself forward, grabbed the dog, and shoved it in his coat jacket before he fell unconscious by the effect of the smoke.

* * *

In another room the rest of rookie nine waited for the instructor to get there quietly since the loudest of them was not with them. A cloud of smoke appeared behind him and a voice came to from within it. "All right you baby-faced degenerates!" yelled the voice, "Pipe down and listen up!" The smoke cleared to reveal Ibiki and many jounins standing behind him. "It's time to begin. I'm Ibiki Morino, your propter, and from this moment, your worst enemy. Now if we're ready we'll proceed to the first stage of the chunin exam. Hand over your paperwork. In return you'll each be given a number. This number determines where you will sit. We'll start the written test once you're all seated." Each student moved forward and exchanged their applications with their seat and then they went to go sit down. "Everyone eyes front," Ibiki tapped the chalkboard with a piece of chalk to get all their attention, "There are a few rules you need to be aware of, and I won't answer any questions so you better pay attention the first time around." He then proceeded to describe all the rules. Both Sasuke and Sakura were surprised to hear that he wouldn't be asking a tenth question at the end as he had done the first time."All right. Begin."

Many of the pencils began to move and both Sasuke and Sakura finished their tests quickly. They sat and watched as teams were slowly eliminated until there were only a few left. Finally the time came to end the exam. "All right," said Ibiki, "Those of you who remain have all passed. You'll be going on to the next part of the test."

At this moment the window broke and a big ball of cloth came flying in. It opened to reveal the word 'Here comes the second test proctor Anko Minarahi and Anko stood in front of it as she said excitedly, "Heads up boys and girls. This is no time to be celebrating. Are you ready for the second test?" she asked then without giving them any time to answer she said, "Good! Let's go! Follow me."

Ibiki stepped out from behind the sign and said, "You're early again."

"How many are there?" she asked, "Ibiki, you let all these guys pass? The test was too easy. You must be getting soft."

"Or it could be," answered Ibiki, "A stronger crop of candidates this year."

"Sure don't look it," said Anko as she looked them over, "Trust me. Before I'm done with them more than half will be eliminated. This is gonna be fun," she paused for a moment, "All right you maggots have had it easy so far, but starting tomorrow first thing in the morning I'll let your squad leaders know where you are to meet me. Dismissed."

* * *

woohoo beginning of the chunin exams


	12. Chapter 12

All of the genin who had passed Ibiki's test the day before now stood outside a large forest with gates surrounding it. Sakura and Sasuke both stood tense in the middle of the crowd waiting for Naruto to show up. He never did and it scared them.

"Hello everyone," said Ankou with a smirk, "welcome to the Forest of Death. This is gonna be fun," she gave a small giggle before pulling out a couple sheets of paper, "Now before we begin this test I have to get you to sign these papers. They're consent forms that you must sign before taking the test."

"What about our other teammate?" asked Sasuke and everyone else agreed.

"They already signed the consent form when they signed the application forms," said Ankou with a shrug, "Though they didn't know that they were doing that."

"Well then where are they?" hissed Sakura.

"Hold on a moment," answered Ankou, "I'm getting to that part. You guys are so impatient," Sasuke and Sakura just glared at her though Sasuke's was much worse than Sakura's. "Usually during this part of the test we send the teams out together to gather scrolls, but it has come to our notice that almost none of the chunins know what to do when their teammates are caught and taken hostage. So one of your teammates has been taken hostage somewhere in the Forest of Death with 3 chunin guards both protecting them and keeping them hostage. One of the chunin gaurds also has one of these scrolls," she pulled out two scrolls with the word heaven written on one and the word earth written on the other, "Once you have saved your teammate and have captured your scroll from the chunin guards you will need to find the other scroll and then take them into the middle of the forest where there is a locked tower. You also have to finish it within the week."

"What are we supposed to do for food?" yelled Chouji.

"Look around," answered Ankou, "There's plenty of food in this forest."

"That's not all that's in this forest," muttered Sakura just loud enough for the people closest to her to hear so they all began to ask her what she was talking about. She shrugged and said, "There are man-eating beasts and poisonous plants in there."

The mutters continued until Ankou finally silenced them by saying, "You can be disqualified though. If all three members do not make it to the tower within the time limit your team is disqualified. If a member of the team is lost or becomes incapacitated then you are disqualified. And if you look at the contents of the scroll before you reach the tower you are definitely disqualified. Alright now that that's settled each team turn in your consent forms and pick a gate where you will be let in."

Just as Sakura and Sasuke reached their gate they heard Naruto call out to them. _"Sasuke…Sakura?"_

"_Naruto are you okay?" _asked Sakura not even trying to conceal her worry.

"_Yea," _answered Naruto, _"I'm just a little sleepy because they filled our room with sleeping gas."_

"_Are you sure you're okay?" _ asked Sasuke while trying to conceal most of his worry, but both Sakura and Naruto could hear it through their mental connection, _"You aren't hurt at all?"_

"_I'm fine Sasuke," _answered Naruto, _"But I have an idea that I need your help with."_

"_What is it Naruto?" _asked Sakura.

"_I can sense Ino and Kiba close by so I think that the rookie nine should team up and meet at our tree. I'll get these two. You guys just need to get the other guys to cooperate," _said Naruto.

Sakura and Sasuke looked around to find that the other two teams of rookie nine were on either side of them. _"Alright Naruto," _said Sasuke within his mind before talking out loud to Sakura, "You get Ino's team. I'll talk to Kiba's."

Sakura nodded and they both walked to the two other teams to get them to work together.

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes after his conversation with his teammates and slowly looked around. He noted briefly that the jounin guards that he had sensed earlier were not even bothering to stay hidden from him before continuing to look at his surroundings. He also noted that the vines that held him tied to the tree was almost filled to the brim with chakra. He looked back at the jounin and said, "You guys are idiots."

All three of the jounin turned to glare at him. "What are you talking about?" growled one of them.

"You could have killed Akamaru with that sleeping gas. If I hadn't put him in my jacket when I had you would have killed the poor dog," said Naruto.

"Who cares about your stupid dog?" asked the second ninja.

"Death is probably better than living with the demon boy anyway," said the last one.

"He's not my dog," Naruto said slowly as though they were children making them glare harder at him, "Akamaru is Kiba's dog."

"Doesn't surprise me that you stole someone else's dog. Do you plan to torture it?" asked the first one.

"Why do I have jounin for my guards while everyone else has chunin?" asked Naruto completely ignoring what the jounin had said, "Is my skills really that great that you need to use jounin?"

"Yeah right kid," laughed the jounin, "your were the bottom of your class, but we were told to come and be your guards so that you can't pass. No one wants you to be a ninja let alone a chunin. Besides since we're your guards if some deadly animal comes to attack you we might, I don't know, accidently let it slip passed our guard."

The three jounin opened their eyes, which they had closed when they had laughed at Naruto's remark to find him standing before them without any trace of a struggle to get out of the vines that they had tied him up with. "How-" was all one of them got out before Naruto punched him in the gut sending him flying back into a tree.

"Why you!" yelled another as he lunged to attack Naruto, but he simply grabbed the man's outstretched arm and flipped him over so he landed hard on the ground and then kicked him in the middle of the back so he was knocked out.

The last one stared wide-eyed at his two teammates who had been knocked out and then looked fearfully up at Naruto. "Demon!" he cried as he lunged forward only to have Naruto step aside and use his elbow to hit the back of the jounin's neck. He then searched their pockets finding the scroll that he needed before heading to where he sensed Kiba was as Akamaru began to stir within his jacket.

* * *

"Where is Akamaru?" screamed Kiba as he thrashed wildly to try and get out of the vines that held him.

"We don't know who you're talking about," said one of the chunin who was trying to calm him.

"Where is my dog?" yelled Kiba, "You better not have killed Akamaru!"

"There was no dog there," said the same chunin as she turned to her teammates to look for help. They just shrugged which made Kiba even angrier.

"I'm gonna kill you when I break free!" he screamed in his rage.

He continued to scream random threats at the chunin while they tried to calm him until he heard a familiar voice say, "There's no need to get so worked up Kiba. Akamaru's not dead. Just really sleepy."

All four of them turned to see Naruto come out of the trees with his orange jumpsuit on and a lump inside of his jacket that made him look pregnant.

"Well then where is he?" demanded Kiba.

Naruto unzipped his jacket to reveal an awake Akamaru though he still looked really tired. "He just woke up a couple of minutes ago and that sleeping gas is still affecting him so he's rather tired." Kiba sighed in relief when Akamaru barked to confirm what Naruto had said.

"How did you escape already?" asked the chunin as they backed away from him, "The teams have only just been let in. There is no way that they could have made it here by now, and you had jounin guards."

"I escaped myself," answered Naruto with a small smile as he walked over to where Kiba was tied up, "Though I do believe that it's unfair that you guys are trying to stop me from becoming a chunin. They even said that they'd let someone or something kill me if they had the chance."

"You-you did?" they gasped, "but those were jounin guards."

Naruto merely shrugged as he cut the vines with what looked like no effort. He handed Akamaru to Kiba and turned to the chunin. "Now we need the scroll and we'll be on our way." The chunin took up fighting stances. "Come on," said Naruto, "You know if I can take out jounin I can definitely take out you guys." The chunin looked at him with fear in their eyes before one of them pulled out the scroll and tossed it to him and they all fled.

"I bet you just got a lucky break," said Kiba with a cocky grin, "There's no way that you could beat chunin let alone jounin."

"Sure Kiba," was Naruto's answer. They walked toward where he knew Ino was.

* * *

When they reached Ino they saw that she was trying to seduce the chunin, as they were all male, with her beauty to let her go. Naruto snickered before walking out to the clearing with Kiba in tow.

"Who would ever think that you're beautiful?" called Kiba making everyone focus on him.

"Alright Kiba why don't you go save the damsel in distress since you're so strong," said Naruto gesturing to the chunin who were glaring at them.

"They'll be out in a flash," said Kiba with a cocky grin, "Ready Akamaru?" he asked receiving a bark from the fully awake dog in reply. The both of them began to fight as Naruto made his way over to her.

"I am not a damsel in distress," said Ino, "I could have made it out of here by myself."

"Because your beauty is such a great weapon to use against men," said Naruto as he cut the vines holding her, "Just sit back and watch the show." He and Ino turned to watch Kiba and the chunin fight. After a while it was evident that Kiba was losing so Naruto stepped in. "This is taking too long Kiba. We have to get a move on if we are to meet the rest of the teams." He promptly knocked out the three ninjas with one blow.

"What are you talking about?" asked Ino.

"We're meeting the rest of the teams at a meeting place," answered Naruto handing Ino the scroll that he had fished out of one of the chunin's pocket.

"Yea right," laughed Kiba, "and how did this plan come to be. I mean we haven't had any contact with any of our teams."

"I talked to Sakura and Sasuke a bit back and we had a plan already set up if one of us ever got captured. Can't be too careful."

"Of course," Ino sighed, "I should have known that Sasuke would think ahead and always be prepared. He is perfect."

Naruto laughed and rolled his eyes before turning to walk to their meeting place. "Hey Naruto," said Kiba, "What happened to those cool clothes you were wearing before? They were so much cooler than some orange jumpsuit."

Naruto looked down at his clothes and grimaced at what he was wearing, "Oh yea, I wanted everyone to underestimate me so I wore this outfit," then he did a couple of hand signs and his orange jumpsuit poofed away to reveal his normal outfit, "There much better."

"It's kinda hard to underestimate you Naruto," said Kiba with another cocky look, "You're already the lowest of the low."

Naruto just kept walking into the woods with the two genin following him.


	13. Chapter 13

Ino and Kiba were exhausted by the end of the day. Naruto had showed them where two other chunin teams were and they had to defeat them to get the matching scrolls without Naruto's help because he had disappeared during their fight. It took them so long that they barely had time to walk a mile before it got dark. When they came upon a clearing Naruto turned and stopped them by saying, "I think we should camp out here."

"What makes you the boss?" hissed Ino.

"The fact that both of you are so exhausted that you could faint at any moment," answered Naruto as he lowered himself to the ground.

"We wouldn't be if you had just helped us fight those chunin," growled Kiba stubbornly remaining standing.

"I figured I'd just get in the way since I am the lowest of the low," shrugged Naruto, "You're welcome to keep moving if you want, but if either of you faint I am not carrying you anywhere."

Ino immediately sat down not wanting to ruin her hair by fainting somewhere in the forests. "So we're camping here?"

"Yes," answered Naruto, "If you guys wait here I'll go get some firewood and water."

When Naruto was no longer in sight Kiba sat down and said, "I think we should ditch him."

"Why?" asked Ino.

"It's Naruto," Kiba said as though it was obvious, "He'll just hold us back in the future. Like before when he ran away to hide while we fought the chunin by ourselves."

"I don't know Kiba," said Ino skeptically, "I think that we're missing something about Naruto."

"Yea right," laughed Kiba.

"You wouldn't understand Kiba," Ino shook her head, "You're jutsu focuses on dogs so you don't understand much about humans. I, on the other hand, focus on the mind and I think that there's something that we're missing."

"You're just over thinking this Ino," said Kiba, "It doesn't take a Yamanaka to see into Naruto's mind. It's completely blank."

"On the contrary," said Naruto appearing behind Kiba making him jump, "Ino's actually very perceptive and unlikely to over think things when she's not being a fangirl."

"When did you get here?" asked Kiba.

"Just now," answered Naruto putting down his canteen of water and the large sticks he had found, "but I forgot to warn you that I have very good hearing and heard your whole conversation." He sat down and began making a circle of rocks and then placing the sticks inside of them to make a fire pit.

"_We have started to set up camp," _Naruto said within his mind.

"_So have we," _answered Sakura.

"_How long do you think it will take you to get to our tree?" _asked Sasuke.

"_I don't know," _answered Naruto, _"These two don't have a constant speed so I can't calculate how fast we can move."_

"_That's alright," _said Sakura, _"Sasuke's been pushing us to move quickly so we'll have time to rest if you don't make it there at the same time we do."_

"_I think someone's following us," _said Sasuke as a way to defend himself.

Naruto frowned, _"Just be careful you guys. We don't know when Orochimaru will attack."_

"What's wrong Naruto?" asked Ino pulling him away from the conversation in his thoughts.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"You all of a sudden started frowning," she answered.

"Oh," said Naruto, "Don't worry about it. I just thought of something that troubled me." He looked around at their campsite to find that they were the only two there. "Where's Kiba?"

"He went to the bathroom," answered Ino, "You must have been pretty out of it because I yelled at him for trying to go in front of us. I mean he's not a dog."

Naruto laughed at that just as Kiba came back with a big smile. Before Kiba could do anything Naruto was tackling him to the ground. In a mere moment he was pinned to the forest floor with Naruto sitting on top of him. "What the hell?" screamed Kiba.

"You smell different," answered Naruto.

"What?" asked Kiba.

"You don't smell like Kiba. Being a dog user, or at least copying a dog user, you should have known that already," said Naruto as he pulled out a kunai and launched it into the bushes on his right, "Why on earth did you come alone?"

"How did you know I came alone when you guys are already with your group?" asked the Kiba look alike.

"We aren't part of the same group," answered Naruto as he pulled out another kunai and held it to the Kiba look alike's throat, "and you just told me that you were alone."

Just then Kiba came barging through the bushes from the direction that Naruto had thrown his first kunai. "You damn bastard!" he screamed, "How dare you tie me up!"

"Now now Kiba," said Naruto looking up at him, "This is your own fault for not paying attention to your surroundings."

"How dare you talk to me like that!" yelled Kiba tackling Naruto off of his look alike.

The look alike got up and launched himself toward Ino only to be stopped by Naruto who had pushed Kiba off of him. "You idiot!" growled Naruto, "You could have gotten Ino killed by attacking me. If I hadn't been fast enough I wouldn't have been able to stop this guy," he turned to the rain ninja allowing his anger to show in his eyes by making them into slits like a fox, "and you better get the heck out of here before I kill you."

"Give me your scroll and I'll be gone," answered the rain ninja bravely. Naruto's only answer was to swipe his kunai against the ninja's front, but the ninja jumped back so there was only a small scratch. "You missed idiot," he said, but then he began to cough up blood as the wound slowly grew deeper and deeper.

"I used my wind chakra to attack you with so there was no way I could have missed that," said Naruto, "You should have left when I told you to. You probably won't die from that wound if you get it treated, but you never know how many predators in these woods are attracted to the scent of blood or how good their sense of smell is."

"Damn you!" yelled the rain ninja as he retreated into the forest.

* * *

Sasuke sat at the campfire just outside of the three tents watching its blaze flicker in and out before he stirred it to make it come alive again. He heard the rustling of one of the tents and then some footsteps coming towards him. "What are you doing out here?" he asked.

"I can't sleep," answered Sakura as she sat next to him. "All this background noise is making it so that I can't sleep. I guess we won't be getting any sleep until we meet up with Naruto right?"

"Seems that way," answered Sasuke nodding his head, "I even picked Shino to sleep in the same tent as me because he's so quiet, but his bugs aren't."

"Sasuke," asked Sakura when she saw Sasuke look around at the dark shadows within the forest, "Do you really think someone is following us?"

"Yes," answered Sasuke, "He's staying just outside of your chakra barrier, but mine's a bit larger than yours so I can sense him."

"Him?" asked Sakura.

Sasuke nodded again, "I'm pretty sure it's Orochimaru. I can't be certain though because his chakra signature changes every time he changes bodies and he doesn't have the same body that I got used to him with."

"I really hope you're wrong," said Sakura. "Should we tell Naruto? I think he'll freak out if he's not here when Orochimaru attacks."

"No," was Sasuke's immediate answer, "I don't want him there. He'll do everything he can to make it so that we don't get hurt and that means that he will. I don't want Orochimaru to hurt him again."

"Sasuke," sighed Sakura, "I don't think us not telling him will make it so that he doesn't get hurt." Sasuke looked at her with a pleading look in his eye, though to anyone who might have seen the scene would say that he had not emotion whatsoever on his face. "but I won't tell Naruto because I don't want him to get hurt either."

She smiled at Sasuke and he smiled back with a little quirk of his lips that would have been missed if she hadn't been looking for it and then they both went back to watching the fire flicker in the wind.

* * *

Naruto awoke the next morning at dawn and began making breakfast for his two traveling companions before he even woke them up. Kiba was the first to emerge from his deep slumber. He was drawn to the smell of bacon that Naruto had so conveniently packed. Then Ino came out with a rat's nest in her hair that could have only been an effect of bed head. Naruto had to hold back his snicker at this. He handed them their food and then went into the tent that he and Kiba had shared.

A few moments later Naruto came back out holding a brush in his hand. "Do you mind if I brush your hair?" he asked Ino. She looked at the brush suspiciously before giving the same look to Naruto. "It's Sakura's brush," said Naruto, "Not mine and I can assure you that Sakura doesn't have lice. And don't worry I won't mess up your hair. I do Sakura's all the time." Ino gave one last suspicious look before nodding her head slowly and turning back to her food.

Naruto smiled and moved to kneel behind her since she was on a log and he wouldn't have been able to reach the top if he sat down. He undid the ribbon that kept her hair up in a ponytail and began to brush her hair starting from the bottom of her long locks and working his way up to get rid of the rat's nest in her hair.

Naruto had learned to do Ino's hair soon after he learned how to do Sakura's. It was because Ino kept asking Sakura where she had gotten her hair done that Sakura told Ino and Naruto began to do her hair as well.

"As interesting as it is to watch two girls do each other's hair I'm bored," said Kiba as Naruto finished with Ino's hair and put it back in the ponytail.

"Well," answered Naruto as he got up and wiped the dirt off his white pants using a bit of chakra to make sure that his shirt got completely clean, "If you help me pack up everything then we can get a move on and maybe meet up with the rest of the group by the evening."

Kiba grunted and grumbled as the three of them began to pack up the tents and any supplies that were left out. Once Naruto had put everything away inside of his scroll, which connected to the area that team 7 used to store any necessary equipment for traveling was, they set off to meet up with.

* * *

When they arrived at the tree they found Shino, Hinata, Chouji, and Shikamaru facing a giant snake. Naruto was the first to react as he launched himself toward the creatures head. He was quick and no one saw him move until he was already on the snake's head stabbing a kunai into the slitted eye.

The snake began to thrash from side to side as it tried to get Naruto off of its head and the kunai out of its eye, but Naruto used his chakra to attach to the snake so that he wouldn't fall off. After a few moments he pulled out the kunai and thrust it into the other eye. The snake banged its head against whatever it could. The ground. The trees. Anything to get Naruto off of it, but still Naruto did not move. Finally the snake fell dead to the ground with wooden splinters sticking out of its head.

Naruto jumped off of the creature and went to the other two teams that were staring at him in shock. Shino, Hinata, Chouji, and Shikamaru were all injured so Naruto went to them and began to look them over. After confirming that they hadn't been poisoned he began to heal them with his chakra.

Shikamaru's eyes widened as he saw this. "You know how to heal people?" he asked knowing that that ability was highly advanced.

"Sakura taught me," answered Naruto, "I'm not nearly as good as her, but she isn't always there when someone gets injured so she taught Sasuke and me the basics of healing jutsu. We can really only heal cuts and bruises, but that's a great thing to be able to do when the cut could cause someone to bleed to death." Shikamaru nodded as everyone else processed this information. "What happened?" asked Naruto, "Where are Sakura and Sasuke?"

"We had just arrived when Sasuke freaked out and ran off into the woods," answered Chouji, "Sakura told us to stay here and that we would probably be safe here and then she followed him."

"I don't think they knew that a snake would come and attack us," said Shikamaru, "Now I know what Sakura was talking about when she said there were dangerous creatures here."

"That thing," growled Naruto, "was a summoning by a very bad man who wanted to kill you." His voice gained a touch of urgency when he said, "Tell me which way they went!"

Shino pointed in a direction and Naruto told them to stay there before creating a chakra barrier to keep dangers out and following Sasuke and Sakura hoping that he wasn't to late.

* * *

wow this took a lot longer to write than i meant it to. oh well here's the next chapter. enjoy


	14. Chapter 14

They had just arrived at the large tree that was supposed to be their meeting place when Sasuke felt Orochimaru's chakra move closer. "Fuck!" he growled and looked over at Sakura. She was looking at him with a worried look and he knew that meant that Orochimaru had entered into her chakra barrier. "Damn it!" he growled taking off towards Orochimaru's chakra signature. He didn't bother to wonder if Sakura had followed him. He knew she would eventually.

When he found Orochimaru the man seemed to be pleasantly surprised. "Well if it isn't Uchiha Sasuke, the rookie of the year. I must say you are more advanced than I thought to have sensed me coming."

"You know absolutely nothing about me Orochimaru," answered Sasuke which made Orochimaru take a step back in surprise, but then his face twisted into an evil smile.

"So you've heard of me have you?" said Orochimaru, "Then you know that I am one of the three legendary Sanin, and I am the most powerful out of them."

"You were one of the legendary Sanin," answered Sasuke, "and you've always been the weakest of the three of you. That was only proved when you began to seek power."

Orochimaru growled, "Power makes me stronger. It could make you stronger too," Orochimaru got back his evil smirk, "You want that to be able to kill your brother don't you?"

"No," answered Sasuke. At that moment Sakura landed beside him.

"Oh, but you are weak. You have to rely on your teammates to help," said Orochimaru.

"I could beat you any day," said Sasuke, "and me relying on my teammates doesn't make me weak. It makes me smart. Unlike you."

"You can't beat me just like that Sasuke," said Orochimaru, "No, you have to become much stronger if you want to beat me."

"Sasuke could kick your ass without a second thought," said Sakura smugly.

"Shut up," hissed Orochimaru, "I wasn't talking to you."

"To bad," said Sakura, "because I was talking to you."

Orochimaru hissed and a killer intent washed over the two of them. Both of them froze where they stood. Orochimaru frowned, "Pity, I thought you, Sasuke, would be more of a challenge." He threw three kunai at Sasuke, but was surprised when Sasuke just smirked and easily dodged the attack.

"Did you really think I was frightened by such a weak aura of killer intent?" asked Sasuke.

"Really," said Sakura shaking her head with a smile, "once you've felt the killer intent released by demons no other's could scare you."

"Demon?" asked Orochimaru, "Oh you must mean that weak little Jinchuriki. Why isn't he here? Was he too frightened to join you guys."

"Naruto isn't afraid of anything," growled Sakura, "and he isn't weak."

"Then why isn't he here?" asked Orochimaru.

"In case you've forgotten," answered Sasuke, "Our teammates were captured and we have to go save them."

"Ah," said Orochimaru, "It seems you haven't realized that the teammates that were captured were the weakest links of each group."

"Well that makes sense," said Sakura, "but then shouldn't I be the one who was captured?"

"The only way for them to know who is the weakest link of the group is for our sensei's to tell them," answered Sasuke, "and it's totally obvious that he thinks Naruto is the weakest."

"That's true," Sakura nodded.

Orochimaru hissed with anger at being ignored for even the slightest moment. "Summoning jutsu!" A large snake appeared from out of nowhere and immediately began to attack them.

Both Sakura and Sasuke easily dodged the creature by jumping from tree to tree until Sasuke finally got a clear enough shot to throw 6 ninja stars straight into the creatures mouth killing it immediately. It's neck began to crack and Orochimaru emerged from it with an angry smirk crawling across his face.

"What?" asked Sasuke, "No stupid predator prey crap?"

Orochimaru just hissed and, in a way only possible for a snake, slithered up the tree towards Sasuke who didn't move. The only thing that stopped his a attack was when weapons hit the branch right in front of him. When he looked to where the attack had come from Sakura was heading straight for him with a kunai in her hand. "Summoning-" he was cut off when a shot of pain hit his side and he looked over just in time to catch another kunai that Sasuke had thrown. He yanked the first one out of its side and threw both the weapons at Sakura who was now just in front of him, but she disappeared and the weapons hit the tree behind her with a loud thunk. He cried out when he felt pain rip through his back as a kunai dug in between his shoulder blades. Orochimaru threw his arm back to hit his attacker and made contact with nothing. He hissed and tried to summon again only to have Sasuke appear right in front of him and kick his chin making him fall back and land harshly on another tree branch.

Sasuke and Sakura were hiding when they felt Naruto's fear and worry wash over them. _"Where are you guys?"_

"_We're fine," _answered Sasuke, _"You don't have to come after us. We'll be back soon."_

"_Orochimaru summoned a snake to attack the rest of us," _was Naruto's answer which made Sasuke curse silently to himself, _"Please tell me where you are. I don't want you to get hurt."_

"_If you don't stop talking to us we'll get hurt because we lost focus," _answered Sakura in her motherly. This surprised Sasuke because Sakura had been against this idea and she hated to be mean to Naruto even if it was for his own good. Her scolds were always filled with kind words and they never blamed Naruto for anything unless it was absolutely necessary. Apparently she felt it was absolutely necessary now.

Both waited for a moment, but Naruto did not say anything to them. Both sighed in relief and turned to attack Orochimaru only to find that their little talk with Naruto had given Orochimaru enough time to summon a snake. Both of them had already jumped to attack Orochimaru so neither of them were able to change their course before the snake got to them. It whipped it's head to the side catching Sakura in the side throwing her against a tree. Sasuke was sure he heard a sickening crack when she made contact with the tree, and his suspicions were confirmed when she looked at him with pain filled eyes that told him she could not continue. That one moment that he looked at Sakura took his focus off of the snake and when he looked back he didn't have enough time to block when it used its head to land roughly on top of him. He fell to the branch below him and lost his breathe from the fall. Before he was able to catch his breath he felt two fangs sink into the side of his neck and he cried out as the pain rushed through his whole body. He heard Sakura's scream and just before he lost consciousnesses he felt Orochimaru rip his bloodied fangs out of his skin and heard him scream in pain.

Naruto was so angry when he arrived. He hadn't gotten there in time and now both Sakura and Sasuke were badly hurt. He didn't hesitate in plunging his kunai straight into Orochimaru's long neck, but he growled when he realized that he had missed anything important in his neck. He normally wouldn't have missed if it hadn't been for the fact that, by making his neck longer, everything in his neck had to move to accommodate the new growth. Naruto threw himself forward in blind anger as his killing intent washed over the whole area. Orochimaru cringed in fear as he came closer to the man. He knew his eyes were slits right now, but he didn't care. He would kill anyone who hurt his friends, his sister, and the man he loved.

Naruto plunged his kunai into Orochimaru's chest where his heart should be only to find that Orochimaru had never even been there. It had only been one of his servants acting on his behalf, but none of them could have noticed that because they didn't know what Orochimaru's chakra felt like at the moment.

Naruto growled in anger at the body, but he left it there in favor of helping Sakura and Sasuke out of there. First he went to Sasuke's unconscious form and carefully put him onto his back and then he went to Sakura who told him that she had broken a rib or two and that she couldn't walk because of it. Naruto nodded and lifted her up so she could wrap her arms around his neck and her legs hung down as though she were sitting in his arm. It looked like he was holding her bridal style with only one arm. He slowly made his way down to the ground making sure not to make any sudden jerking movements to mess up Sakura's ribs. When they were safely on the ground Sakura pulled back one of her arms to begin healing herself. Naruto smiled at this as he began to walk back to the big tree. Sakura happened to be one of the few, no, Sakura was the only person who could heal broken bones because Sakura had been the one to create that jutsu.

* * *

The two rookie teams that remained at the large tree began to interrogate each other as soon as Naruto had left.

"H-how d-did you g-guys escape?" asked Hinata with her shy voice.

"Oh it was amazing Hinata, I-" Kiba began, but he was cut off by Ino saying, "Naruto got us out of there."

"He just got lucky," grumbled Kiba.

"Three times?" asked Ino.

"Hey," said Kiba, "I beat up those guys for you."

"I seem to recall Naruto being the one who knocked them out," answered Ino.

"After I made them tired," growled Kiba.

"I think you were the one getting tired Kiba," answered Ino and then, before the argument could get further she turned to Shikamaru and asked, "What about you guys?"

"Troublesome," said Shikamaru, "We had just got here when Sasuke freaked out and left. Then Sakura followed him telling us to wait here. Then right after that the snake came."

"Yea," said Chouji as he munched on a handful of chips that came from the bag in his hand, "It came right as I was sitting down to eat a snack."

Ino sighed, "My gosh Chouji. Is that all you ever think about?"

Suddenly Kiba jumped up and growled, "Who goes there?"

"What are you talking about Kiba?" asked Ino.

"I smell blood," answered Kiba.

"That would be us," came a voice from where Kiba was looking, "Though most of it isn't ours."

Everyone had their weapons out and they waited for whoever the newcomer was to come out of the bushes. They all sighed in relief when Naruto made his way through, but then their eyes widened when they saw that he was carrying the other two people of his team. He slowly made his way to the big tree and placed Sakura and Sasuke inside of the cave created by its long roots. "Ino, Hinata," said Naruto which made everyone, who had previously been unable to move because of shock, look over at him, "We need water. Shikamaru, Chouji, we need herbs. Kiba, Shino, we need firewood. Don't go too far and don't leave your partner."

Everyone of them jumped to do the task that they were ordered without second thought and within seconds. "How are you feeling Sakura?" asked Naruto worriedly.

"I'm fine," said Sakura as she continued to heal herself, "I'm almost done." That was the one downside of healing broken bones. It took a long time and if it was rushed for any reason the bone would heal improperly which was potentially dangerous if it healed in a way that made it so the person still couldn't move. "Why did you ask them to get that stuff?" she asked, "We have it all already in our supplies."

"It's better not to use those unless we absolutely need them so that we don't run out before we're done," answered Naruto, "and I needed them gone."

"Why?" asked Sakura. Naruto's only answer was to lean over Sasuke's unconscious body to bite his neck, but he was pulled back by Sakura's strong grip. "You can't do that Naruto. We're in the middle of nowhere. Something could happen. We can't have you in pain for a week like last time."

"The seal is weaker this time," Naruto answered.

"So are you," said Sakura.

Naruto leaned forward and kissed her cheek before wrapping his arms around her shoulders so that he could hug her without irritating her side. "Sakura," he said, "I have to do this. It's my fault you guys got hurt," he paused to shake his head when Sakura tried to protest, "I shouldn't have distracted you guys. You probably would've won if I hadn't. You were right. Besides I don't want Sasuke to be in pain like the last time either. I promise I'll be fine. Just let me do this, please."

Sakura pulled away from him to look at his pleading eyes before reluctantly nodding. Naruto smiled and released her so that he could go back to Sasuke. He took a deep breath before leaning down and sinking his own fangs into Sasuke's skin. As the pain began to spread for his body he grabbed for something, anything that he could clench onto so he wouldn't bite Sasuke any harder. He felt Sakura's strong hand slip into his own and he could feel the chakra that she let slip into it so that he wouldn't hurt her too much. He immediately clenched his fist around hers in a way that would break anyone else's hand.

Sakura watched as the seal spread over Naruto's face to make its way to his own neck and she had to hold back a sob. She didn't know how much it hurt, but she knew that if Naruto was showing that he was in pain that it had to hurt a lot. This was exactly how it happened the last time Naruto had removed the seal, and she still couldn't stand to watch it again, but she knew that just by offering her hand for Naruto to hold onto she was being a great help to him.

When the seal had completely made its way from Sasuke's neck to Naruto's he let his teeth lose their grip on Sasuke's neck only for them to find refuge in his hand to muffle his loud cry of pain.

* * *

haha. this one was faster than the last one. i hope you like it


	15. Chapter 15

The two other teams returned to the big tree to find that Sakura was the only one still awake.

"Sakura?" asked Ino gaining her attention, "Where do you want these."

"Oh," said Sakura when she noticed that they had each done as they were told, "Bring them over here please." They all came closer and Kiba and Shino dropped the wood on the floor. "Could you two make a fire please?" she asked them then she turned to the other four, "Hand the herbs to me and I'll wrap them up. It turns out that we don't need them like we had originally thought that we would have. And could you put the water into this bucket," she pointed to the bucket that sat next to her, "I need it for these two."

Ino nodded and all of them did as they were asked though Kiba did do a little grumbling about being told what to do by a girl. "What happened?" asked Ino, "Naruto looked fine when we left."

"He's exhausted," said Sakura, "He did a really difficult jutsu and it took a lot of his energy."

"Wh-what d-did he d-do?" asked Hinata.

"He probably just did the shadow clone jutsu," said Kiba with a smug smile.

"Why do you keep doing that?" asked Ino.

"Doing what?" asked Kiba.

"You keep putting him down. Saying he can't do anything," said Ino.

"Even if Naruto did a thousand clones it wouldn't exhaust him," said Sakura as she tended to the two sleeping boys who now had wet rags placed on top of their heads.

"Yea right Sakura," laughed Kiba, "we all know that he can't do the clone jutsu."

"He can't do the illusion," said Sakura nodding her head, "but that's because it's much to easy. Naruto has this weird thing where he can't do easy jutsus but he can easily do the harder jutsus."

"Oh yea right," said Kiba, "I have never seen him successfully do one jutsu."

"Troublesome," said Shikamaru wanting for the argument to stop because Kiba was beginning to talk louder and louder and he thought it might attract attention to them. He did not want to have to deal with an enemy right now, "You haven't even seen him train have you?"

"Well no," answered Kiba.

He opened his mouth to say something else, but was cut off when Sakura said, "Then you have no right to say anything about Naruto. He's much stronger than any of you. I'd even be willing to bet that he's stronger than all of you combined at the moment."

"Sakura," came Sasuke's voice as he began to sit up, "What are you talking about?" He rubbed his shoulder to feel that their was herbs placed their to stop the wound from getting infected.

"Stop rubbing at it," said Sakura grabbing his hands to move them away from his shoulder, "You'll rub off all the herbs that I so painstakingly put on you. And we were talking about Naruto. Kiba is stupid enough to believe that he's stronger than Naruto."

With this Sasuke laughed. It was more of a short chuckle, but it told all of them that he thought that topic was amusing. "I am stronger than idiotic loser," Kiba cried indignantly.

"You will never be stronger than Naruto," answered Sasuke turning to glare at Kiba, "so I suggest you shut your mouth or get your tongue cut off." Kiba was smart enough not to say anything after that threat.

"Sasuke," gasped Sakura, "You shouldn't threaten people like that."

Sasuke sighed. "I know," he said reaching up to touch his shoulder only to have his hand snatched away again.

"I said stop rubbing at it," said Sakura.

"Why do I need the herbs anyway?" asked Sasuke, "I didn't think Orochimaru's bite left any wounds last time."

"It did," answered Sakura, "but it wasn't bad enough to require herbs."

Sasuke looked at her with a quizzical look then he just shrugged remembering that everyone else was still their and thinking that Sakura was just trying to hide the curse mark from them. "I shouldn't have let him bite me," he growled remembering that he had been sidetracked.

"Oh don't you dare go blaming yourself on this one," Sakura said with the scolding tone of a sister, "Naruto is already blaming himself and it's going to take me long enough to convince him otherwise. I don't need to have to convince you too."

"Why is Naruto blaming himself?" growled Sasuke, "He wasn't even their, and it was my decision to go by ourselves."

"It doesn't matter anymore Sasuke," sighed Sakura, "What's done is done."

"What happened to you guys anyway?" asked Ino.

"Nothing," Sasuke answered.

"It had to have been something if your both wounded and Naruto is out cold," said Ino with her hands on her hips.

"What?" Sasuke almost yelled as he turned to see, for the first time, that Naruto was sleeping next to him. "What happened to him?"

"He took away the seal," sighed Sakura.

"My seal?" asked Sasuke beginning to reach up to touch his shoulder, but he stopped himself so that Sakura wouldn't yell at him for it.

"Yea," answered Sakura, "just like he did last time."

"He did it last time?" asked Sasuke.

"Well of course," said Sakura, "Wait. You mean he didn't tell you that he was the one who did it?" Sasuke shook his head. "Well that's just great. I wish Naruto had told me that so that I wouldn't bring it up."

"How did he do it?" asked Sasuke.

"I don't think you want to know Sasuke," Sakura shook her head.

"Tell me," growled Sasuke, "Why is Naruto unconscious?"

Sakura sighed and moved to sit next to Sasuke. She could feel the curious eyes of everyone else on her back so she made sure that Naruto's neck was completely hidden from their view before turning his head just slightly to show off the new seal on his shoulder. She could feel Sasuke's anger so she said, "It's not permanent."

"How is that not permanent?" growled Sasuke, "I had that fucking seal for at least 5 years before Naruto took it on himself, and last time I looked their wasn't a cure until at least 5 years from now."

"The cure is Naruto," Sakura spoke in a quiet voice so that none of the others could hear her, "He told me that just before Kyuubi died that he said that your seal was made from a demon curse. Only demons can destroy anything created by the demons."

"What does this have to do with Naruto?"

"He's the ruler over all demons now," sighed Sakura. She hated it when Sasuke was angry because, even though it seemed that he always thought things through, he didn't like to think before he acted when he was angry. She was also like this. That's one of the many reasons Naruto was important to their group. He always made them laugh, or at least calm down, so that they could control their anger and think before they acted. "So he can destroy things created by demons, but even demons have a hard time destroying demon things so it takes time."

"How much time?" asked Sasuke. She didn't miss the worry hidden behind his anger. From this close it was obvious that Naruto was in pain.

"At least a week," answered Sakura, "but Naruto will only stay unconscious for a day and than he'll only feel the pain every now and again…"

Sasuke looked at her suspiciously. He knew that she cut herself off before she was able to say 'I hope', but he didn't want to hear the words either because it would make it seem more likely.

"I-Is th-there something wr-wrong?" asked Hinata from behind them.

Sakura turned to her and smiled slightly. "It'll be fine. I think we should make something to eat. Don't you think Sasuke."

"Sure," Sasuke said in a monotone voice.

"How are we supposed to do that?" asked Kiba, "Last time I looked we didn't get any food."

Sakura didn't get a chance to answer as another group joined them in the clearing. Both Sasuke and Sakura glared at the new coming sound ninjas. The first ninja, who they knew to be the leader of the group, said, "Well looky here. Weaklings all banding together."

"We arent' weaklings!" growled Kiba.

"Not the time Kiba," hissed Sakura.

"It doesn't matter," said the leader of the sound ninjas, "we just want Sasuke."

"Well I think you might want to rethink that," said Sakura before Sasuke could answer them, "Sasuke's in a really bad mood right now, and you never know what he'll do when he's upset."

"Don't worry he'll be dead within minutes," said the ninja who had been in the room with Naruto when they were separated.

"Alright," sighed Sakura, "but don't say I didn't warn you." Sasuke got up and began to walk towards the ninja as the sharingan bled into his eyes. "I suggest that you guys come back here so that you aren't in Sasuke's way," Sakura said to their comrades. When they had all made it under the big tree Sakura made a chakra shield that would protect them in case any stray attacks went their way.

"This'll be easy," said the cocky sound ninja who had dark brown hair. Before any one could blink he had his hands facing towards Sasuke with a large amount of strong wind powerful enough to crush a person. "See," he said as the cloud of dust that had formed began to settle down, "He didn't even last through one attack."

"I don't see that at all," said Sasuke from behind them. All three of them turned around to find Sasuke's mangekyo sharingan seeming to glare straight into each of their eyes. The girl was the first of their group to scream in terror as her mind was invaded with torturous thoughts that held her captive within an unknown world inside her head. Sasuke held her captive until she fainted as the two men before him moved into defensive positions.

When Sasuke was finished with the girl he turned to the other two. The leader of the group, who only allowed one of his eyes to be shown through his many layers of grey clothing and bandages, had already thrust himself forward intending to attack Sasuke, but Sasuke made some hand seals and blew many small fireballs towards him that made him change direction to dodge them only to be faced with more fireballs heading towards him. This became a dance between him and the fireballs that always seemed to be one or two steps ahead of him. After a few moments the leader became aware that his teammate was in the same condition he was in, but his teammate was being attacked with fireballs that had kunai and ninja stars inside them so that even his wind could not stop there attack. Only then did he become aware that Sasuke was playing with them.

Sasuke remained in the same place that he had stood from the beginning of his attacks with his mangekyo sharingan predicting the moves and allowing him to attack before they even got to their destination. He was having fun torturing these people while each of his attacks slowly injured them. This was a trait that he hated most about himself. He liked to see people suffer when he was angry. His mind would go through all the methodical ways he could torture his enemy when he was angry, and he was using one of those thoughts now by giving them a small injury at first and then slowly making the injuries worse and worse until the only thing they felt was excruciating pain.

As his two enemies collapsed onto their knees being to tired to move any longer Sasuke grinned wickedly at them as he continued to allow his attacks to slowly injure them, but then he felt himself getting knocked over and he heard Sakura scream. This new attacker struggled to hold him down, but the person was weak and exhausted so he expertly flipped their positions, pinned down his attacker, and stabbed him in the chest near his heart. His attacker just reached up and pulled him closer to his body and that's when he realized who it was. It was Naruto trying to stop him from doing something he knew he would regret later. Naruto had done this many times before whenever Sasuke would torture people, but this was the first time that Naruto had done it when he knew he was incapable of fighting Sasuke.

Sasuke pushed himself upwards so that he could see Naruto's face only to find him smiling kindly. He grimaced. This was the third time he had almost killed Naruto and still Naruto always smiled at him.

"Are you okay now Sasuke?" he asked his voice sounding dry and drowned at the same time.

Sasuke stared at the kunai he had so cruelly thrust inside his beloved for a moment before yanking it out, making Naruto gasp, and putting as much pressure on the wound as he could. "Sakura?" he called out desperately.

Sakura had been frozen as she watched Sasuke put those men through torture and she didn't much care about them. They were her enemies and she didn't care if Sasuke should kill them. Then she saw a flash of white and yellow rush past her and she knew that it was Naruto even though she hadn't even heard him move, and by the gasps of the other people within the barrier she knew that they hadn't either. "Naruto, stop!" she screamed as he tackled Sasuke to the ground and tried to force him to stay there. But Naruto was weakened by the seal's powers so she watched as Naruto was pinned to the ground and a kunai was thrust into his chest. She was frozen in that spot until she heard Sasuke's desperate cry for her to help Naruto.

Sakura ran past the two motionless bodies of their enemies. She knew they were still awake and to weak to move, but at that moment she didn't care. As soon as she reached her teammates' sides Sasuke moved to allow her to get a full view of the injury. Luckily, she noted, Naruto had been able to surround his heart with chakra so that it started healing before Sasuke got the kunai in his chest. She immediately went to work healing his wounds as Sasuke sat next to her cursing Naruto for getting in his way, but she knew that he was actually cursing himself for being unable to control himself. "It's fine Sasuke," she said feeling the need to comfort her brother, "He was already healing his wound before you attacked. He's going to be okay."

Sasuke looked at her gratefully, but she could still see the anger at himself in his eyes. Naruto coughed violently below them and then pushed Sakura's hands off of his chest which she hadn't finished healing. "What are you doing?" she protested as she tried to go back to her healing, but Naruto just swatted her hand away.

"You need to save your energy," he said quietly, "Don't worry about me I heal really fast," then he turned to Sasuke and asked, "Are you okay Sasuke?" Sasuke nodded his head though he refused to look up. "Don't worry Sasuke," he said with a kind smile, "It wasn't your fault. I was careless," he paused for a moment, "Now could you help me up please."

Sasuke helped Naruto to his feet and slung his arm around his neck to help him walk over to the others. As they passed by the two sound ninjas who were still awake Naruto said with a kind smile, "I suggest the three of you leave here immediately and go bandage your wounds so that they don't get infected." The two of them left walking slowly with their unconscious comrade.

As soon as they arrived back at the tree the six people who had been sitting their in shock began to ask if the two of them were okay. They all nodded as Sasuke helped Naruto sit back down. "Why did you tackle Sasuke Naruto?" asked Ino as Sakura was putting herbs on his wound and bandaging it up and Sasuke mended and cleaned his shirt using chakra.

Naruto looked over to Sasuke who's eyes had hardened at the question not wanting everyone to know that Naruto stopped him so that he wouldn't do something he would regret and then Naruto said, "Those people didn't deserve to die. They were just following orders. I just thought that we should give them a second chance."

"Then why did you tackle Sasuke?" asked Shikamaru, "you must have known that his ninja training would have kicked in when you attacked him."

Naruto laughed, "I guess that I should have thought it through a bit more, but what's done is done."

"A-are y-you sure y-you're alright N-naruto-kun?" asked Hinata with a blush on her cheeks.

Just as Naruto was about to say he was fine a shot of white hot pain shot through him and he could not help, but allow a small yelp to pass his lips as he brought his hand up to grab the seal. Before he could touch the seal Sakura had both his hands in hers and he held onto them with the same amount of force as before.

"What's going on?" asked Kiba.

"Nothing," gasped Naruto as his pain subsided, "It was nothing."

"That was not nothing," said Ino indignently.

"It was nothing," Naruto said with a reassuring smile.

Everyone looked at him suspiciously, but they decided to let it go for different reasons. The four that didn't know him that well probably thought that he looked fine so it didn't matter anymore, and his two teammates let it go because they already knew exactly what he was going to say if they tried to push him on the subject.

"I think," Naruto said to change the subject so that they would stop worrying about him, "that we should have dinner, rest, and then leave tomorrow morning so that we can go to the tower with our scrolls."

"In case you haven't noticed," growled Kiba, "We don't have any food."

"We have some packed," said Naruto with a smile as Sakura got out the food.

"Okay we'll do that," said Sakura, "but I'm cooking this time around."

Naruto laughed, but nodded anyway as she got out all the necessary equipment to cook the meal.

* * *

i am a horrible person for not updating for a whole 54 days... or something like that. i am so sorry, but my computer's broken and i had an idea for something else that i had to get out so that i could get rid of my horrible writing block for this one... so yea... here's the next chapter. hope you like it.


	16. Chapter 16

They had been traveling for hours heading towards the tower when the group began to complain about their incessant hunger so they stopped in a clearing near a river. Sasuke put Naruto, who had fallen back to sleep on Sasuke's back during their travel, on the softest piece of the ground that he could find and went to go fishing with Sakura.

"This is so tiring," complained Kiba, "Why can't we just leave him behind," he gestured to Naruto, "Then we wouldn't have to be held back by him."

"W-we c-can't just l-leave h-him here," said Hinata.

"I agree," said Ino, "There's something wrong with him. If we left him here he could die."

"And the rules say that you can only pass if you have all of your team," Shikamaru said tiredly, "So if we leave him behind Sasuke and Sakura will fail the exams."

"Fine," grumbled Kiba, "If you put it that way." Kiba allowed himself to fall backwards so that he was laying down and the two scrolls that he had gotten for his group fell out of his kunai pouch. He picked up the earth scroll and looked at it curiously.

"What are you doing?" asked Ino.

"I'm looking inside of it," said Kiba.

"Y-you c-can't do that," stuttered Hinata, "W-we aren't allowed t-to open th-the scrolls."

"Aw come on Hinata," answered Kiba, "Don't you want to know what's inside of it."

"I do," Chouji piped up.

"Troublesome," sighed Shikamaru as he turned so that his back was facing towards them.

Chouji and Ino came closer so that they could see the scroll as Kiba slipped his thumb under the first little bit of paper readying himself to open it. Before he could, however, he found a hand holding the scroll closed. They looked up to see that Kabuto was standing there and Naruto was awake and fully alert and ready to fight behind him.

"Kabuto-san?" asked Ino.

"You shouldn't do that," he answered looking directly at Kiba, "bad things happen to people who open the scroll when they were told not to which forces them to quit the exams."

"Take your hand off of that scroll," said Naruto as he took out a kunai and lowered himself into a defensive position that could easily be changed to offensive if it were required.

Kabuto raised his hands to show that he meant no harm. "There's no need for that Naruto-kun," he said kindly, "I wasn't going to take it."

"I know you weren't," said Naruto as he stood straight, but didn't put the kunai away, "You don't need it. You already have two yourself don't you?"

"Why yes I do," said Kabuto taking out his own two scrolls to show it to him, "but how did you know?"

"If you had needed either of the scrolls you could have easily taken it from Kiba, seeing as he has them both out in the open, and then run away without ever having to get into a conflict," answered Naruto.

"Very good," said Kabuto eyeing Naruto's kunai, "but then why did you threaten me if you knew I didn't need the scrolls."

"This is a competition," he answered just as Sakura and Sasuke arrived back and both of them pulled out their own kunai, "You never know what someone will do."

Kabuto laughed, "That is true, but I promise you that I don't intend to do anything."

"We don't believe you," said Naruto.

"Come on Naruto," said Ino, "He just helped us."

"He shouldn't of had to save you if you guys hadn't have been so stupid," growled Sasuke.

"But I guess we are still indebted to him," sighed Sakura. The three of them put away their weapons simultaneously.

Sakura and Sasuke came closer with their catch and began to make a fire while Naruto just sat down where he had been standing.

"How are you feeling Naruto?" asked Sakura as she handed him some water.

"I'm feeling alright," he answered, "My wound is almost completely healed up. I'm sorry for falling asleep."

"Don't worry about it," laughed Sakura, "I think your steady breathing really relaxed Sasuke a lot. He was really tense before you fell asleep."

"I'm glad," said Naruto.

"So what are we going to do now?" asked Kiba.

"How easily you forget," sighed Sakura turning to face him, "We are going to do the same as we were going to do before."

Kiba blushed and mumbled, "I knew that."

"What are you going to do?" asked Kabuto.

"I don't think it's any of your business," hissed Sasuke.

"We're gonna go to the tower," said Kiba proudly, "since all, but Naruto's group already have their scrolls."

"Kiba," hissed Sakura, "You can't just tell random people you don't know our plans. He could have just been saving you so that you would let your guard down around him at a later date."

"But we do know him Sakura," said Kiba, "We met him before this exam started."

Before Sakura could answer Kabuto interrupted by saying, "Excuse me, I'm sorry for interrupting but, do you even know what's going to be waiting for you at the tower?"

"A whole bunch of teams waiting to ambush us to get our scrolls," answered Naruto easily, "It's the smartest idea since everyone will be going that way and could not avoid there attack."

"That's right," said Kabuto. He was about to say something else as well but before he could Sasuke said, "I'm sure we'll be fine since we have nine people already."

"But don't you want someone to help you get through without running into too many traps?" asked Kabuto.

Kiba and Ino said "Yes that's a great idea," at the same time Sakura and Sasuke said, "No. You just want someone to help you get through so that you won't have to do much work."

"You guys are so annoying," growled Kiba, "It's a good idea and you know it. Kabuto is a nice guy and he only wants to help out."

"Actually," said Kabuto, "you caught me. I do want someone to help me get through, but I can be an asset to your group as well."

"Kiba's right though," said Ino with a face that told everyone that she did not like to give Kiba any credit, "Kabuto-san hasn't done anything to harm us and has actually helped us greatly so why can't we just help him out."

"Ino's right," sighed Sakura, "I guess we should."

_"Are you crazy?" _growled Sasuke in her mind, _"We can't have a danger like that on our team when Naruto is injured like he is now."_

_"But," _Sakura tried to say, but she was interrupted by Naruto saying, _"Sakura are you only agreeing because Ino was the one who said it?"_

_"No," _cried Sakura defensively, but when both Naruto and Sasuke gave her a knowing look she relented by saying, _"Yea I guess I am. It's probably one of the worst ideas I've ever had."_

Naruto smiled at her and said, "I agree. You can never have to many people in a group on the defensive," at the same time that he told Sakura and Sasuke through their telepathic connection, _"Don't yell at me for this one. Orochimaru wants us to trust Kabuto so that he can get information on us. If we were to say no than he would keep trying or follow us and keep 'saving' us until we do trust him."_

Sasuke sighed and nodded his head in agreement.

* * *

They hadn't been travelling for long when Sasuke stopped in the middle of the clearing with Naruto, who had fallen asleep again, on his back.

"What is it Sasuke?" asked Sakura as everyone else stopped. The other two groups collapsed to the ground in exhaustion because Sasuke had been pushing them the whole time to go at a fast pace so that they could get to the tower faster and maybe avoid some unwanted attacks, but Kiba had fallen into almost every trap that they came by and that slowed the group considerably.

"You feel that?" Sasuke muttered.

Sakura gave a curious look and then felt around her surrounding to try and figure out what Sasuke was talking about when she realized that her surroundings didn't truly exist. They were only creations made from a genjutsu. "Darn it," she hissed under her breathe.

"I didn't notice it until just now either," said Sasuke, "Kiba kept distracting me with his idiocy. This isn't good. I didn't want to run into these guys while Naruto is like this. He was going to be the main part of our plan to get rid of them."

"I can still do it," said Naruto as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"Naruto," gasped Sakura, "You can't do that. You're injured."

"Sakura," sighed Naruto as he climbed off of Sasuke's back, "I am not injured. It's just another seal to deal with."

"Then why have you been so tired?" growled Sasuke.

"I'm not really tired," answered Naruto, "I've only been sleeping a lot because when I sleep I can concentrate solely on destroying the seal. The more I sleep the faster it goes away."

"But still," said Sakura, but Naruto interrupted her.

"I'll be fine Sakura," said Naruto as he gave her a hug in order to reassure her, "We have a plan to stick to and if we're going to use it I'm gonna need you two to get Kiba out of here. God knows he'll try to stay and fight."

"Fine," grumbled Sasuke, "but if you get hurt at all we are going to come up with a new plan."

"Of course," Naruto smiled, "Now, would you like to do the honors?"

"Yea, yea," said Sasuke as he put his hands together to create a seal, "Release!"

The others gasped as the area that they were in gave way to a completely different area that was still surrounded by large trees and still had the clearing that they were standing in, but the vines and leaves connecting the trees seemed to be closer together created a foreboding sense of danger.

"This isn't good," Kabuto muttered, "They were trying to tire us. Since that plan failed there's no knowing what they're going to do next."

"They're going to send clones made out of illusions after us next so that we'll start fighting them and waste all our energy on them," answered Sakura just as the strange clones began to appear out of the trees and the ground.

Naruto just shrugged and said, "Let's match a clone for a clone." He made one of his favorite seals and for every illusion that was made he made one clone. He also made clones that quickly turned into all his teammates. Sasuke and Sakura thought they would have to force Kiba to leave, but it was a lot easier than they thought because Kiba was in shock due to Naruto's ability to create so many clones.

Naruto began to attack with quick slices of his kunai's sharp blade. They weren't too quick because he didn't' want Kabuto to be able to read him. Not that Kabuto could if he was going full speed, but there was no need for that at the moment. Every time he hit his target the clone would just grow back into what it had been. On the other hand his clones, the ones that hadn't transformed, were slowly, but surely dwindling down into nothing.

He had planned not to stop fighting until all of his clones had disappeared, but his shoulder suddenly began to send painful jolts of white hot fire through his body. He refused to grab his shoulder as he collapsed to the ground in what looked like exhaustion as his last clone was destroyed and the transformed clones fell back gasping for air, because he wanted Kabuto to believe that Sasuke still had the curse seal. Instead he had his Sasuke clone grab his shoulder as though he was in pain.

_"Don't come yet guys," _he said as he sense that they were about to, _"They're coming out."_

The rain ninja laughed in false pride as they slipped out of their hiding place. "Well, well," said the one that Naruto recognized to be the one who had already attacked them, "You're the one who gave me that injury in my stomach."

"I am," Naruto affirmed, "I'm also the one who drew you idiots out of your hiding place so that you would have to face us head on."

"What?" gasped the one that only had one eye showing.

"Did you really think that we were stupid enough to exhaust ourselves before finding out where you guys were?" Sasuke asked from behind them.

The rain ninja turned in shock as everyone came out surrounding them. "I'll leave this up to you guys," said Naruto waving as though shooing a pest off himself and onto his teammates and his transformed clones disappeared.

"Ok," Sakura said as she took out her own kunai.

"Wait," said the one who had attacked them at first, "Please don't hurt us. We'll give you our scroll."

"We don't need one," said Naruto as he pulled out both the scrolls for his group, "We're all set. It looks like you don't have a bargaining chip so they're going to attack you."

The group closed in on the rain ninja and they took out their kunai ready to fight. "We won't lose to you," growled the one with only one eye.

All three of them attacked, but were blocked by Sakura, Sasuke, and Kiba. Naruto watched carefully as they fought the rain ninja. Most of the group was fighting the ninja that Kiba had blocked as Sakura and Sasuke practically took on their own enemy by themselves. The only one that wasn't fighting, Naruto noticed, was Kabuto. He was staying a little ways away from the fight and was carefully analyzing both Sakura and Sasuke's movements. Naruto smirked at the thought of Kabuto gathering information from them as they weren't even really trying to fight.

Sakura and Sasuke's enemies had been long defeated by the time the last enemy fell unconscious. "Well that was fun," said Naruto happily.

"You didn't even do anything," growled Kiba.

"Kiba," scolded Ino, "did you not just see him fight off all those clones."

"Fine he did something," growled Kiba, "He did the easy job. It wasn't even a little bit dangerous."

Ino was about to say something, but she was interrupted by Naruto who said, "Don't worry about it."

"Are you alright?" asked Sakura as she crouched down before him. Sasuke remained standing by his side glaring at Kiba.

"I'm fine," said Naruto, "I'm just tired that's all."

"Should we rest here?" asked Sakura.

"No," answered Naruto, "We're almost there. We can rest when we get to the tower in nice cozy beds."

"Alright," Sakura nodded.


	17. Chapter 17

When they arrived at the tower that would end the second part of their test and Kabuto met up with the rest of his team all of them split up to get into the tower on their own. Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto quickly walked into one of the many room that littered the outside of the tower and, as Sasuke closed the door, they opened the scroll and threw it onto the floor as it summoned their sensei.

"Whew," said Iruka, "you guys just made it on time."

"We had a couple complications on our way when we were trying to get here," Naruto smiled as he sat on the ground to rest.

Iruka smiled as he knew that Naruto was probably the complications. "Well it seems that you three have passed the second part of the test. I'm very proud of you all," Naruto grinned widely at hearing those words, "but there is still another part that you have to pass if you want to become chunin."

"We know Iruka-sensei," said Sakura.

"But we're ready for this competition," said Naruto.

"We're definitely ready to become chunin," said Sasuke.

Iruka grinned at his students. "Well while I'm here I have to explain the saying that's on the wall here."

"We already know what it means," said Sasuke.

"Really?" asked Iruka with a surprised face, "but this is your first time taking the test."

"We're not stupid," answered Sakura, "It's obvious that this whole test has been about teaching us how to be chunin and that is just trying to add to it."

"Oh," Iruka was shocked by their knowledge, but, then again, both Sasuke and Sakura had been the top of his class throughout the whole year. And if Naruto wanted to know what it meant they could explain it to him. "Well I guess I should congratulate you all on getting this far," Iruka smiled, "I'll treat you all to ramen."

"I'll take you up on that offer," said Naruto with a grin of pure happiness.

Iruka smiled and watched Naruto as he sat and rubbed at his shoulder. By the looks of it Naruto must have been really sore. That couldn't be good for what was coming next for the group. "You'll be careful right Naruto?" he asked with concern.

At that moment the air seemed to grow colder and there was a moment of silence until Sakura broke by almost yelling, "For God's sake Iruka-sensei. Didn't I tell you before to stop underestimating Naruto? You are supposed to be acting like a father, not the proud person who underestimates him and then gets thrown off his high pedestal because he was wrong."

"Sakura," sighed Naruto as he saw that her words were upsetting his teacher.

"No!" she growled, "He needs to hear this. If he doesn't then he'll just keep underestimating you and I'm getting sick and tired of it. If he keeps acting like this he'll be just like the villagers who hate you for something that you couldn't control. I won't allow it. He needs to learn a lesson."

"Sakura," this time Naruto's voice took on a stern tone.

"But Naruto," she seemed to deflate at his tone, but she still wasn't willing to let Iruka-sensei hurt him anymore, "Doesn't it upset you when he underestimates you?"

Naruto smiled and with a soothing voice he said, "Yes Sakura it upsets me very much, but that was not him underestimating me. That was him worrying about me as any parent would. I'd be upset if he didn't worry about me."

Sakura let her gaze hit the floor and nodded her head. How could she be so stupid as to scold Iruka-sensei when he was only worrying . She should have known.

"Sakura," said Naruto from where he still sat, but she still did not look up out of embarrassment so instead he allowed two words to go through their connection to penetrate her thoughts. They were a very heartfelt, _"Thank you." _ She smiled quietly.

Naruto stood and nodded at their sensei saying a quick goodbye and turning to leave, but as the other two left Iruka stopped him and said, "Naruto I'm really sorry about underestimating you."

"No you're not," answered Naruto.

"What?"

"You're not sorry about underestimating me because if you were you wouldn't still be doing it." Then he quietly left the room to follow his teammates.

* * *

When he found his teammates in the room they were to stay in, which was a room barely large enough to hold the three beds that sat side-by-side with only enough room to allow them to get in and out of their beds connected to a bathroom, the first thing he did was give Sakura, who was sitting on the bed closest to the door a huge hug. "Thank you so much Sakura."

"I'm sorry Naruto," she sighed, "I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions."

"I'm just happy that you stood up for me," answered Naruto.

"Besides," interjected Sasuke who was sitting on the middle bed, "he deserved it."

"Sasuke," Naruto said in a tone that seemed to be a mix of scolding and happiness.

"I only speak the truth," said Sasuke with a shrug.

"We all know that's a lie," Sakura smirked.

"No, I don't think it is," said Naruto putting his finger to his chin in a playful thinking pose, "Maybe that's why he doesn't talk that much. There might be something that he's not telling us."

"How could you Sasuke?" Sakura gasped playfully, "Keeping secrets from your own teammates. You're not a girl are you? Oh what a tragedy for Konoha that would be."

"I don't think it'd be a tragedy," said Naruto with a playful smirk, "all of Sasuke's secret fanboys' would finally be able to come out of hiding."

"Of course you would know that," Sasuke smirked, "You being one of those secret fanboys."

"I am not," said Naruto indignantly though there was a definite blush creeping onto his cheeks, "I would never act like that."

"Of course not," Sasuke said sarcastically.

Sakura watched happily as the two of them talked. They really were a cute couple, and she wanted to get them together, but no matter what she did to try to get them together they were always to dense to see it. Perhaps she could try again.

"Sasuke?" asked Naruto.

"Hmmmm?" was his reply.

"My shoulders really hurt," he said rubbing one of his shoulders, "Could you give me a massage?"

"Sure," answered Sasuke motioning for Naruto, who had been sitting on Sakura's bed while they were talking , to come over to his bed and sit down. Naruto sat in the middle of the bed with his legs crossed and took off his shirt throwing it onto his own bed which was near the one small window in the room. Sasuke often gave him massages back in the future, because he had to do all that paperwork and it often gave him a crick in his neck, so he knew exactly what to do. He had done it so often that he forgot about the seal on his neck until Sasuke's fingers came up and touched it.

He shot up, almost falling over and turned to Sasuke with his hand covering the cursed seal. "Sorry Sasuke," he said with an apologetic smile, "I forgot about that. I'm sure they won't hurt after a good night's rest."

"Oh no you don't," said Sasuke grabbing his hand as he went to go get his shirt, "We both know that these stiff beds aren't going to help at all. Come on let me help you."

"But," Naruto protested as Sasuke was already shifting him back into the position he had been in.

"No buts," said Sasuke calmly as he sat on his knees behind Naruto, so it wouldn't be uncomfortable for him, and began to give him a massage before he could move away. Naruto immediately melted into the feeling of Sasuke's hands working all of the kinks out of his shoulders.

Oh yeah, Sakura was definitely going to try again. And for her first attempt she would leave the two of them alone while she went and took a shower which she desperately needed.

* * *

I know this is like reeeeaaally short, but it's kind of between chapters and didn't really go with the previous or the next chapters so i just decided to make it a chapter on its own. i hope you like it


	18. Chapter 18

Sakura smiled at her two teammates as they walked towards the meeting place for all the teams that had passed. She was watching them as Naruto tried to get Sasuke to try some of his chocolate ice cream with overflowing chocolate sauce in a bowl that they had found in the cafeteria on their way. She was trying to think of a way to get them closer, especially after last night. When she had come out of the shower she saw the two of them sleeping with each other. Apparently Naruto had fallen asleep while Sasuke was giving him a massage and Sasuke had decided that since the stiff beds wouldn't help Naruto's stiff shoulders that his muscled chest would. She had been upset when she had woken up that morning because she didn't know who woke up first, but the lack of a blush on Naruto's face and the satisfied smile on Sasuke's made her assume that Sasuke was the first to awaken.

"Ne, ne, Sasuke," Naruto's voice cut into her thoughts, "Why won't you try the ice cream?"

"It's not something you should be having in the morning before a fight," Sasuke answered, "and you know I don't like sweets."

"But you like chocolate," said Naruto trying to give him the spoon filled with ice cream.

"I only like _your_ chocolate," sighed Sasuke.

"Why?" asked Naruto finally giving up and shoving the melting chocolate on his spoon.

Sasuke shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe you make it differently."

"Sakura," Naruto turned around so he was walking backwards so that he could look at her, and Sakura noticed as Sasuke's shoulders stiffened and he moved closer to Naruto just in case he tripped, "do I make chocolate differently?"

"Now that I think about it," said Sakura thinking back to the last time she had his homemade chocolate, though she was pretty sure that Sasuke only liked Naruto's chocolate because Naruto made it, "Your chocolate does taste a little different than normal chocolate. It tastes much better. How do you cook it anyway?"

Naruto thought about it for a moment before shrugging his shoulders and saying, "I don't really remember any recipes. I just like to cook things," then he turned back around to face Sasuke and ask another question, "Sasuke, where did you sleep last night. I thought that the middle bed was supposed to be yours, but I woke up on that one."

"You fell asleep while I was giving you a massage," Sasuke explained, "and I thought there would be no point in waking you just so that you would move to the other bed so I took that one."

Sakura had to hold back a giggle as Naruto nodded his head showing that he believed Sasuke's story.

* * *

Naruto was halfway through his ice cream when they reached the large room that they remembered from their first genin exams. As they looked around not much had changed, but one thing they did notice was that there was an extra team from the leaf village that included Haku, Zabuza, and some other person that they did not recognize. They were the last to arrive so everyone was staring at them as they got into their places with Sasuke in the front, Sakura in the middle, and Naruto behind.

"Alright now that your all here," said Anko in a loud booming voice, "We can finally get started. You all passed the second test, but there's still too many of you so we're going to have to have a preliminary test…Why do you have ice cream?"

Everyone turned to Naruto who was still enjoying the last few spoonfuls of his ice cream. "You never said we couldn't bring any food, and I found this in the cafeteria so I got some to bring with me while we listen to whatever you have to say."

Anko hissed at him and was about to say something when one of the teachers cut in, "OH MY GOD! What a fiery young youth we have here! Willing to go up against a teacher and eat a bowl of ice cream."

Everyone smiled awkwardly at his statement except for one student whose eyes seemed to sparkle in determination. "I will go and get a bowl of ice cream too Gai-sensei!"

"No you will not!" hissed Anko as she turned back to Naruto, "Now look what you've done."

"Doesn't matter anyway," said Naruto calmly pushing the now empty bowl into a seal on a scroll, "it's all gone."

Anko glared at him until she felt eyes on her and she turned to see that Sasuke was just glaring back at her with eyes just as cold as her own. She smirked at him and muttered something about this day being fun. "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted. This preliminary test will take out at least half of you."

"Excuse me," said Kabuto raising his hand, "Is there any way I can quit before the preliminary."

Anko's smirk grew larger, "Sorry kid, but the groups are even and I can't have you making them odd. Anyway, we've decided that too many chunins can't change from team to team so we are going to test your teamwork as well in this test."

"How are we going to do that?" yelled Kiba.

"I'm glad you asked kid," said Anko as another ninja who looked way too sick to even be out of bed, "Hayate here will explain," then she moved back to stand with all the other ninjas who stood in front of the large hands in the form of one of the more basic seals.

"My name is Hayate Gekkou," he coughed, "and I will be the judge of your preliminary exams. Let me explain the rules. We will be having a two on two match," this made even team seven gasp in surprise, "the first team to have both the members become unable to fight loses. If it is necessary you can kill the other members, but I will be here to stop you if it's not. You will be placed into your teams randomly and then your opponent will be chosen randomly as well."

Anko was watching the students quietly as the propter explained the rules when a sudden rush of pain hit her. She looked over to Sasuke, who Orochimaru had said in the woods was the target of the seal. She saw him grab his shoulder tightly as though he was in pain, but something was wrong. His reaction seemed to be delayed since he should have felt the pain at the same time she did. She had the feeling that he was just faking it so she looked to the other students to find the girl behind Sasuke, Sakura as she was told, had her arm twisted behind her back in a way that was just short of painful and her eyes looked determined, but worried. Behind her Naruto looked calm except for the little bit of color that was draining out of his face and the death grip he held on Sakura's arm.

"What do we do with him?" asked Ibiki.

"Who?" was Anko's answer.

"Sasuke," answered Ibiki as though it were obvious, "he's got the seal placed on him."

"I don't think he does," muttered Anko.

"What do you mean?" asked the Hokage.

"I don't know, but that team is acting really weird," answered Anko glaring at the team, "We need to just get them all out of here. Give them to the ANBU and figure out what's wrong afterwards."

"I don't think that's going to happen," said Kakashi from beside them.

"And who are you to stop me," growled Anko.

"I'm not going to try," he answered, "but I know my team and they wouldn't just let you take them out of this no matter what the reason would be."

"I don't care," she growled as the pain in her shoulder began to subside, "They're a danger to all of us."

"We aren't leaving," joined another voice and they all turned to see that everyone was staring at them, not because of their conversation, but because standing right next to them was Naruto who had been the one to speak, "and Sasuke isn't dangerous," he rose his voice a little higher so that the teachers nearby could hear him, "You should keep your voices down. You never know whose listening to you when you speak about secrets. You never know what enemies can be nearby." He gave them a smile and walked calmly back to his perch behind his feminine teammate. Still everyone was silent waiting for someone to say something.

"Well you heard him," said the third hokage, "They won't leave. Besides you already said that you didn't want there to be an odd number of candidates."

"But Lord Hokage," she gasped.

"Please continue," was the Hokage's only answer.

The propter coughed and said, "Very well. If you'll all please move to the upper level and we will begin." As everyone move to the higher grounds one of the five light purple panels began to open to reveal a large black screen. "Now the first team of two will appear on the screen." It only took a moment for the names to flash by until it stopped on two. "The first team will be Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki." The two of the smirked and jumped down from their high perch after Sakura had given them a good luck. The next two names were Dosu and Kabuto who joined them on the ground floor.

"This'll be just great I can't believe I have to fight with you," grumbled Dosu.

"I'm afraid you'll have to deal with it," answered Kabuto with a smile, "I suggest we make a plan."

Naruto swiftly took out a scroll and used a summoning jutsu to summon something that no one could see and handed it to Sasuke. _"Why are you giving these to me," _he asked through there connection.

_"I can't use them," _answered Naruto as he watched the two enemies plan out there tactics, _"They mess me up. they're going to try to split us apart. I suggest we let them."_

_"But that's too dangerous," _said Sasuke, _"What if one of us gets to badly hurt."_

_"We have to take that chance," _sighed Naruto not really liking the idea himself, _"I can't fight Dosu because my ears are to sensitive and it'll be just as dangerous for them to be apart as well. Don't worry I won't hold back as much as I have been. I want to kill Kabuto now so he's not as much a danger to us as he was in our future."_

Sasuke sighed, but nodded anyway as the two opposite him positioned themselves with Dosu in front of Sasuke and Kabuto in front of Naruto.

"Alright," coughed the propter, "Begin."

Naruto drew out his sword and immediately rushed towards Kabuto knowing that Sasuke would stay behind and allow Dosu to come to him. Kabuto gasped as he saw Naruto rush towards him. Naruto was much faster than he thought and he wouldn't have time to dodge the attack so instead he used his kunai to move the attack, just in time, so that the sword would peirce his left shoulder instead. "That's a little harsh for a simple sparring. Come on take some pity on me. I'm weak from the whole second test."

Naruto growled as he tried to force the sword to go right through Kabuto's chest, but he had still not gained his full strength from the future, he was weak from trying to destroy the seal, and Kabuto still had his kunai held against it keeping it in place. "I don't take pity on traitors. Especially since you aren't weak at all." Deciding that he wouldn't be able to move his sword to the right he turned it in Kabuto's shoulder making him yelp in pain and ripped it out to the left.

Kabuto screamed in pain as his arm was almost ripped off by Naruto's sharp blade. "I don't know what you're talking about," he pleaded desperately as he tried to put pressure on his wound, which was bleeding profusely.

"Oh," Naruto leaned over and quietly whispered into his ear so that no one else could hear, "So you mean to say that you don't know anything about your traitorous act of going to work under Orochimaru and then coming back to the leaf so that you could spy on the great Uchiha and any other opponents that could cause a threat to your plans to attack this village and try to take it over."

Kabuto's eyes widened and he tried to make a slash at Naruto's chest using the kunai that he still held, but Naruto knew it was coming and was already flipping backwards by the time he was able to make the attack. He threw the kunai at Naruto when he was still in the air, but Naruto just twisted his body nimbly to get out of the way. "You know a lot Naruto," he mumbled under his breath as he sent chakra towards his shoulder so that it would rapidly heal, "too much."

"I know much more than you think," answered Naruto as he again moved forward aiming to cut off his head, but before he even made it close enough to Kabuto he was jumping back again only to rush forward and start the whole process over as Kabuto stepped backwards each time. Each time he went he was aiming for a new fatal attack. He had aimed for every fatal attack except for the heart so Kabuto moved to defend his heart as Naruto came at him again, but this time Naruto did not jump back or aim for his heart. Instead the sword pierced through his right hand, pinning it to the wall that Kabuto hadn't realized he had been backed up against, and two fingers pressed into his shoulder. When the sword was gone his arm fell uselessly to his side along with his left. Naruto did not waste time as he jabbed to sword into Kabuto's leg so that he was pinned to the wall and took out another kunai. Kabuto looked up to one of the paler teachers with long black hair who was also Dosu's sensei. The teacher nodded and put his hands together to create a hand sign.

Kabuto had only wanted the sensei to get rid of Sasuke for a moment so that Dosu could come and help him, but he was shocked when he looked back at Naruto who was getting ready to thrust the kunai deep into his heart only to see him drop it and fall to the floor in pain as black marks that looked much like clouds crawled up his neck and onto his face. He was screaming in pain as the seal grew and then shrank only to grow again. Though he was shocked, he could not give up this opportunity as his left arm had just finished healing and he could now move it. He pulled the sharp sword out of his own leg and turned it against Naruto who didn't seem to even notice the attack coming towards him. Kabuto growled at the annoying screams as he aimed the sword and made a cutting motion downward as Sakura screamed for him to move out of the way and Sasuke struggled to get past Dosu. If he cut off the head he wouldn't be able to scream like that, and he wouldn't be able to tell anyone of Orochimaru's plans.

* * *

yay cliffie! i think this is my first ever cliffhanger. i hope you like it


	19. Chapter 19

The last thing Sasuke saw before his fight with Dosu began was the pupils of Naruto's eyes narrowing into slits which told him that Naruto was going to be serious when fighting. He still held himself back when Dosu came rushing at him and tried to hit him in the side of the ear. Dosu looked shocked when Sasuke blocked the attack instead of trying to dodge as any normal ninja would, but the shock only lasted a moment before he smirked only for the shock to return when Sasuke's ear was not damaged by his attack.

Sasuke watched as Dosu said something to him, but he did not know what because Dosu's mouth was covered by the bandages wrapped around his face so he shook his head and with a smirk he said, "I cannot hear you. I'm wearing earplugs." He was pretty sure that's what Dosu wanted to know.

Dosu narrowed his eyes and tried to think of another way to fight against the Uchiha heir when he could not attack his ears. He sighed as he realized the only way was to use hand to hand combat and try to force the earplugs out of his ears. He ran forward at the Uchiha who was patiently waiting for him, and he noticed, a little too late, that Sasuke had activate his sharingan and had a clear advantage over him. His first attack was to try to punch Sasuke in the gut, Sasuke blocked this, which he used to cover up the fact that he was pulling out a kunai, Sasuke saw this, and tried to force it into Sasuke's chest as he tried to get into some sort of blind spot. Sasuke pulled out his own sword as the kunai came straight at him, but to him the kunai was moving much to slow and he had knocked it out of Dosu's hand and had him back in his sights before he even had the chance to blink.

The fight between them continued in this way, with Dosu trying to get into a blind spot and Sasuke never taking his eyes off him, for a short time until something caught Sasuke's eye that almost made his heart stop. Naruto was sprawled on the floor clutching at his neck as the seal fought its way onto his skin, his mouth was open in what Sasuke could only imagine was a terrible scream, and Kabuto stood above him, sword in hand, getting ready to cut his head off.

Dosu took the distraction as an opportunity which he did not allow to pass without using. Before Sasuke could look back at him he put all the force he could into a punch that connected with Sasuke's face on the left side making the earplug on the right side fall out as he fell to the ground to the impact. As the earplug fell out of his ear Sasuke was bombarded by the sound of Naruto's screams mixing with Sakura's trying to urge either of them to get up and save Naruto.

* * *

Sakura had been watching calmly throughout the fight, though she was smirking at the fact that Naruto was holding back as much as he usually would. He always held back unless he was on the edge and absolutely had to use all of his power which was not often. However, when Naruto fell to the floor and his screams filled the air she could not help but want to jump over the rail that kept her on the second floor and save her little brother, but as Kakashi moved forward to do that exact thing she knew she couldn't, but she would do the next best thing: keep Kakashi out of the fight.

She grabbed Kakashi's hand and quietly shook her head. "I am not going to let him die when I am perfectly able to save him," growled Kakashi.

"You'll only get in their way," Sakura said calmly trying to reassure herself as well as Kakashi.

"Naruto is too weak to defend himself. If I don't save him then he will die," Kakashi yanked his hand away from her only to have it caught in her hand again as he found himself on the floor with her weight on top of him.

"We are not your old team Kakashi-sensei," she hissed, "You are not the Fourth Hokage, Sasuke is not you, I am not Rin, and Naruto is definitely not Obito."

Kakashi was too shocked to move as Sakura got off of him. She turned just in time to see Sasuke get punched in the face and Kabuto readying himself to slice Naruto's head off. She could not go down there and help so instead she decided to do as Naruto had done on their first chunin exams. "Get up!" she screamed, "Fight it! I know you can do it! Get up!"

* * *

Sasuke stood on unsteady feet for only a moment before he jumped into the air, over Dosu's head, and ran straight to Naruto's rescue. He thrust his sword upwards as Naruto's sword came down knocking it out of Kabuto's hand. The glistening white sword flew gracefully into the air only to fall back down, with the tip first, next to Naruto's face.

Sasuke stood in front of Naruto as Dosu joined Kabuto. He knew that this was not looking good. He could not move to dodge any of the medical attacks that Kabuto used that could render him unable to move or they would hit Naruto, and he couldn't block Dosu's attacks because he could just use his weird jutsu to attack his ear, which would also render him unable to move. He couldn't leave Naruto alone either, because he knew these people weren't stupid enough to attack him before disposing of Naruto.

Kabuto stood before him with curious eyes, and Sasuke knew what he was wondering. "So I'm sure you're curious as to how Naruto has the seal placed on him when you know, being one of Orochimaru's most faithful underlings, that he bit me," he said, trying to buy time enough for Naruto to recover if he could. There were many gasps and he wasn't sure whether the gasps were meant for the fact that Kabuto's a traitor or the fact that Naruto had the seal and not him. He even heard as the Hokage had to stop Ankou from rushing over and arresting the man.

Kabuto glared fiercely at him as his cover was blown. "Yes I am," he growled, "How did you know that I work for Orochimaru."

"I have my ways," was Sasuke's only answer.

"I'm bored," hissed Dosu as he rushed forward to attack Sasuke.

Sasuke defended his face from another punch only to have the sound waves rush into his ear making him a little nauseous. He saw Kabuto rush at him, but was too late to defend himself as Kabuto's attack landed on his right arm. His sword dropped to the ground as his arm became useless, forcing him to only use his left to defend against Dosu's attack on the same ear.

He could barely hear as Kabuto told Dosu not to kill him because Orochimaru wanted him alive, but what he could hear, or rather couldn't hear because it was no longer there, was Naruto's screaming. He looked up just in time to see Dosu coming to attack again only to have a black sword slice through his neck, barely opening his jugular vein, and he fell to the ground trying to put pressure on the wound as he began to bleed to death. Sasuke smiled as he saw Naruto move to stand in front of him with both their swords in hand and ready to fight Kabuto.

Kabuto looked surprised when Naruto got up with no signs of the seal showing on his visible skin. He looked up to his master only to see that he had a small needle, often used by the hunter nins, embedded in one of his hands making it so that he could not make the hand signs at the moment. He looked back down at Naruto only to be crushed by a killer intent so deadly that he was actually afraid. His fear grew more as he remembered that he was already at a disadvantage because he was still unable to use his right arm.

Naruto smirked at the man he was about to kill. No one could hurt his Sasuke and get away with it so easily. Besides no one would misss Orochimaru's little minion, now that Sasuke had exposed the truth. In one quick flash Naruto had disappeared. Kabuto gasped at Naruto's speed as he tried to locate the boy only to find the boy's weakness right in front of him. He started to move, but found himself unable to as a sharp wire appeared wrapped around him keeping him in place. He tried to struggled, but with each movement the wire cut deep into his skin.

Naruto appeared before him with the edge of the wires wrapped around the dull sides of the two swords. His smirk grew as he slowly stepped back making the wire tighten around his victim in slow torture leaving big gashes where the wires were digging into the skin. When he was standing beside Sasuke and the gashes were at least one inch into the skin, he had made sure not to wrap the wire around Kabuto's head or neck, he yanked the wires as hard as he could in one quick motion leaving Kabuto in many small pieces.

"Seeing as both the opponents are dead," coughed the propter, "Naruto and Sasuke are the winners." His only answer was shocked silence as Naruto put both his and Sasuke's swords away and then helped Sasuke to a standing position.

The two of them moved to the stairs with the side that their friends had been on only to be met by Kakashi, Zabuza, Sakura, and Haku. "Thanks Haku," Naruto nodded at him with a bright smile. Haku returned the smile eagerly as Zabuza looked them up and down. Apparently finding nothing seriously wrong with them, or at least something that would warrant some sort of worry, he took Haku back upstairs leaving only team 7.

"Let me see him," said Sakura motioning for Naruto to let Sasuke sit down as the other medic nins looked over the dead bodies. He did so and Sakura immediately went to work. First she healed his ear, leaving only that nauseous feeling which she assured would go away in a few moments, then she worked on his arm, reconnecting the muscles that Kabuto had torn with his own jutsu. After she was done she turned to Naruto and said, "Now it's your turn."

"Sakura," he tried to reassure her, "I wasn't even injured during the battle."

"I don't care," she answered using her chakra to look him over and make sure he was telling the truth, which he was.

"You two," growled Kakashi making all three of them jump as they had forgotten that he was there, "are coming to talk with me."

"Kakashi-sensei," scolded Sakura, "at least let them rest for a moment. They just got done with a battle."

"No," growled Kakashi as the one eye narrowed into a piercing glare, "You will come with me now," he said to Naruto and Sasuke as, "and I'll talk to you later." With that he led the way out of the large room. Naruto merely shrugged and began to help Sasuke up, who politely declined saying he no longer felt dizzy, before they nodded to Sakura and walked off to catch up to their sensei.

* * *

OH MY GOSH! Oh My Gosh! oh my gosh! i'm so happy.

i have over 100 alerts and i want to thank all of you for wanting to keep reading my story.

almost 100 favorites and i want to thank all of you for thinking so highly of my story.

and over 100 comments and i want to thank all of you for your feedback and i'd like to tell you that more than once your comments have inspired changes in my story to make it better

THANK YOU GUYS!

...Oh Yea YAY Kabuto's dead!


	20. Chapter 20

As they walked Sasuke had the sudden feeling that he should be wary of Kakashi so he moved to walk in front of Naruto in order to defend him, but Naruto took his hand in his own and squeezed it reassuringly. When Kakashi stopped his back stiffened even with Naruto's reassurance. He wouldn't let anyone hurt Naruto no matter who they were.

Kakashi sighed when he turned to look at them. "First of all, that curse mark is dangerous we really should put a seal on it so that they cannot hurt you."

"No!" Naruto gasped before Sasuke could agree.

"What?" asked Kakashi as Sasuke echoed the same question in his head.

"I don't need that," answered Naruto.

"_Why not?"_ asked Sasuke.

"_If he gives me a seal it will only be more dangerous for me. It'll take longer because that seal will just be another one that I have to destroy before I can destroy this one."_

Kakashi growled and, finally letting his anger control him, he took hold of Naruto's arm and roughly pulled him forward, but before he could do anything more he found himself flat on the floor. For a short moment he thought that he might have been attacked by an enemy, but one look at the person tells him it was his own student Sasuke who was now stand directly in front of Naruto practically blocking him from view. "What are you doing!" he almost yelled.

"He said he didn't want it," hissed Sasuke, "and I won't let you make him."

"I'm trying to save him!" he growled back.

"And yet you try to kill him," said Sasuke.

"What?" asked Kakashi who was put off guard by those words.

Sasuke sighed, "A person's body can only take a certain amount of seals. He already has two and if you put another one on him than you'll put him that much more into danger."

"Yea right. You think I don't know about Kyuubi's unlimited chakra. He won't die from something like that, and I won't let him do something that could get him killed."

"Kakashi!" Naruto's eyes narrowed considerably as he heard these words.

Kakashi was shocked when he look over to Naruto only to see his teacher looking at him. Naruto's eyes had narrowed which made him look much older. He looked a lot like his father whenever he was scolded by him.

"You couldn't stop him from dying. He wanted to save you and he did just that. It was either you or him and he chose you," then his eyes grew wide again and again he reminded Kakashi of his old teammate, "You have to stop blaming yourself when you did nothing wrong."

"How do you know about that?" he sighed rubbing his head as though he was trying to get rid of a headache, but both Naruto and Sasuke could see that he was actually trying to hide the sadness, guilt, and regret that were swimming in his showing eye.

"You didn't think we'd be curious about that sharingan eye of yours?" said Sasuke.

Kakashi's hand touched the headband covering his eye before sighing again and saying, "Fine. I'll let it go for now, but it seems we will talk about this later, but for now we have to go back to watch Sakura's fight."

Sasuke stopped himself from sighing when Kakashi finally let them go only to tense up again when Kakashi stopped them once more. "Wait," he said, "I do have one more question for you."

"What is it now?" Sasuke said impatiently.

"How did you get the Mangekyou?"

"What?" asked Sasuke.

"I happen to know that the only way to get the Mangekyou sharingan is to kill your best friend. So who did you kill to get it."

Sasuke wanted to deny that, but before he could Naruto nonchalantly answered for him. "He killed me of course."

"Naruto," sighed Kakashi, "If you're going to lie at least make it one that isn't so obvious."

"Coming from the king of obvious lies himself," Naruto smirked, "Besides, I'm not lying. He did kill me. I just came back to life is all."

"That's not possible," said Kakashi as though he were talking to a child, "No one can come back to life after they've already died."

"Well I can," answered Naruto.

Sasuke grimaced at their words. He had always felt guilty after he killed Naruto again, and he hated to remember it. The only good thing that came from Naruto's three day death was that he returned to the village. He didn't even want to remember what had happened at that time, but he couldn't stop the memory from invading his mind.

* * *

_Flashback_

_He had gone to a clearing near a lake because he was trying to escape from his team and be left alone, but he found that he was not alone. There was an ANBU black op standing near the lake watching him. He was surprised because he hadn't, and still couldn't, feel the ninja's chakra signal. He couldn't identify the person at all since, along with the ANBU mask, he wore a black cloak over his hair._

"_What are you doing here?" he asked suspiciously._

"_Isn't it obvious?" asked the ANBU, "I've come to see you."_

"_So Konoha has finally decided to have me killed?" Sasuke smirked, "Well I have news for you: I'm not going to die so easily."_

"_I'm not here to kill you," answered the ANBU, "I've come here to try to bring you back one last time."_

"_So Naruto got the Hokage to get one of her ANBU's to try and bring me back?" Sasuke laughed cruelly, "Did he finally figure out that he could do it himself anymore?"_

"_The Hokage doesn't know that I'm here," the ANBU shrugged, "I'm supposed to be on another mission, but I knew you were nearby so I decided to come see you."_

"_So Naruto just talked you into it," he laughed again, "Are you another one of his stupid groupies who say that he 'saved' their lives?"_

"_Of course not. I just want you to come home Sasuke."_

"_Well if Naruto didn't talk to you than it must have been Sakura who got you to 'save' me. What's she paying you with. Is she pretending to like you just to get close to me? Well news flash to you. She doesn't care about anyone. She'll do whatever she has to to get what she wants."_

"_You're wrong about her. She doesn't have a crush on you anymore. She's moved on. She's with Ino now. I think the whole reason she had a crush on you to begin with is because the only way to get Ino's attention was when they were fighting."_

"_Then why are you here?" growled Sasuke._

"_I want you to come home," answered the ANBU._

"_Why?"_

_The ANBU sighed before untying his coat and letting it fall aside revealing a tight black tank top wrapped around a muscular chest and baggy black pants. He moved his mask over to the side covering a small patch of his crown of golden hair. Immediately Sasuke realized the sky blue eyes he saw before him. He was happy that Naruto was able to get so close to his dream, but he couldn't let him see that so instead he said. "Konoha must be lacking any good ninjas if they let you be an ANBU."_

"_It must be seriously lacking sine I'm ANBU captain," answered Naruto._

"_Wow. Konoha really has fallen low." _

_Sasuke frowned when Naruto didn't answer and there was an awkward silence between them. At that moment he got the chance to seriously look at Naruto's eyes to find only sadness lurking in their depths. He wasn't even trying to pretend to be filled with happy energy like he used to._

"_So will you come back with me?" asked Naruto._

"_I'll come back," he smirked and for a moment he felt guilty because of the fleeting hope he saw in the other's eyes, "but only if you can drag me back."_

_Naruto sighed again, "Somehow I knew you were going to say something like that," he lowered himself into a lazy offensive position as he began to collect chakra into his hand._

_Sasuke also lowered himself into an offensive position, though his was a lot more tense, and began creating the chidori as he activated his sharingan. He was the first to move forward as he aimed for Naruto's right arm. He didn't want to seriously hurt his only love, but as he gets closer to Naruto the rasengan dispersed into nothing and Naruto grabbed his hand moving the attack so that it hit him straight in the heart. Sasuke could feel Naruto's heart trying to beat around his hand which was being held there by Naruto's own hand around his wrist. If he was anyone else he would have already been dead._

"_Why?" asked Sasuke as he looked into Naruto smiling face._

_Naruto's lips were tinted with blood, but his smile was completely true. "I couldn't help you Sasuke. I always wanted to help you complete your goal of killing him. I only wanted to help, but I knew I couldn't unless I brought you home. Then I found out about the Mangekyou and I decided that even if I died I would still be able to help you," he said between quick gasps and coughs of blood._

"_But why?" Sasuke asked again, but he never got an answer because the heart that his hand was still embedded in had stopped beating and he felt his sharingan morph into the stronger form that his brother had once had. "No!" gasped Sasuke lowering Naruto to the ground, "No, you can't die on me! Please don't die." He attempted to perform CPR, but nothing worked to bring him back._

* * *

_Sasuke stopped to rest in the middle of the forest. He was close enough to Konoha that he could see the Hokage Mountain, but he was just far enough that if he didn't make a scene the patrols wouldn't notice him. He set Naruto's body on the ground carefully. He had carried him for three whole days because he wanted Naruto to be buried in the village that he loved. One more look at Naruto surprised him yet again. He thought that Naruto would have already started to rot by now, but Naruto's body was still in pristine condition. He couldn't even see Naruto's wound because he had put his coat around him so that none of the villagers in the villages that he passed by would ask about it._

_He smiled as he looked at Naruto's face. If he didn't know any better he would say that the boy was just wished more than anything that Naruto was just sleeping. He reached over and shook Naruto's shoulder saying quietly, "You have to wake up now Naruto." He hoped more than anything that Naruto would wake up or react in any way, but what happened next shocked him._

"_Just five more minutes," Naruto mumbled under his breath as he turned onto his side._

_For a moment Sasuke thought that that had all been a dream, that Naruto had never died, but his logical mind got a hold of him for a long enough moment that he thought to activate his Mangakyou and see if that was there. It was. So instead he thought that he had been imagining Naruto's movements just now. He had heard that if someone wanted something bad enough they could make it come true in their mind. He reached forward again and whispered, "Naruto, it's time to wake up."_

"_I said five more minutes," whined Naruto as he waved Sasuke's hand off his shoulder._

"_No Naruto you have to wake up now."_

"_Why?" asked Naruto as he rolled over onto his back and looked at Sasuke groggily._

"_Because we're home," he answered with a small smile._

"_We are?" gasped Naruto as he shot up into a sitting position. Sasuke only nodded so he asked another question. "How long have I been out?"_

"_Only a couple hours," answered Sasuke praying to any god that would listen that Naruto still didn' pay much attention to time._

"_Really?" gasped Naruto, "If I had known you were so close to the village I would have come to visit you sooner."_

"_It's fine."_

"_I'm glad you got your Mangekyou," Naruto said reminding Sasuke that he had yet to deactivate it, "but how is it possible? I thought you had to kill your best friend."_

"_I did kill my best friend," and then when he saw the sadness in Naruto's eyes at not being Sasuke's best friend he added, "You weren't just out for a couple of hours. You were dead. I killed you, my best friend."_

* * *

"Sasuke?" asked Naruto looking at him curiously.

"Huh?" asked Sasuke as he came out of his memories.

"Kakashi has dismissed us. Although he went ahead of us saying he's got a lot to think about," Naruto paused for a slight moment, "What were you thinking about. You were so deep in thought that I had to make up the reason why you have the Mangekyou all on my own."

"It's nothing important," Sasuke shook his head, "How'd you say I got it."

"I told him it was a training accident."

"A training accident?"

"Yea. I was only dead for a couple of seconds, but dead is still dead."

* * *

Yay new chappie! it's not very good, but i updated so Yay!


	21. Chapter 21

Sakura sighed as she watched her two friends being taken away from her by her own teacher who was beginning to seem more and more like an enemy to her and her brothers. She didn't want to have to fight without them. She clenched her fist against the railing as she watched the screen sort through all of the names. This was all Kakashi's fault. If she had to fight without the support of her friends she would be _very_ angry.

Her name appeared and the first thought that came to mind was _"yep, I'm going to kill Kakashi-sensei." _Then Ino's name appeared as her partner and her bad mood lifted slightly. Then some name that she didn't recognize, which didn't affect her at all, and _then _Kiba's name came up and she was immediately thankful that Kakashi took away the only people who would stop her from getting revenge for Naruto, and, oh what revenge she would get.

She went to the ground and watched as Ino, the person she didn't recognized who wound up being Haku and Zabuza's teammate, and Kiba join her there. Kiba seemed to be smirking victoriously. Apparently he thought he was going to win this fight before they even began .

"What do you think partner? Who should we take out first?" asked Kiba. The other ninja seemed to hesitate for a moment and then just as he was about to say something Akamaru started barking. "That's right," said Kiba, "It doesn't really matter since either way we'll win."

"You shouldn't be so cocky," Sakura's grin was crooked on her face as she watched the two of them, "You never know how strong people can truly be."

Kiba's eyes widened for a moment and he fidgeted with his dog before placing the creature on the ground and saying, "You should sit this one out Akamaru. It wouldn't be fair to fight these girls with you by my side." Akamaru barked once and ran off of the floor straight through the door that Sasuke and Naruto had disappeared into.

"You're still underestimating us," hissed Sakura, "I'll show you just how strong we are." At that moment the propter told them that they could start their match and she immediately rushed towards the person she didn't recognize. She grabbed him in a choke hold and forced him to face towards Ino. It took her a moment, but Ino finally took the hint and used her mind jutsu to invade the boy's mind leaving Sakura free to fight with Kiba.

She smirked as she turned to the man who was staring wide eyed at her speed. She was definitely not as fast as Naruto and was just barely not as fast as Sasuke, but she was still fast for her age and supposed experience. She didn't even give him the chance to let this all sink in as she channeled chakra into her fist and rushed forward to punch him in the gut. There was a crack as he coughed and she knew that she had cracked one of his ribs so with her hand still against his stomach she released some chakra and allowed it to heal his wound. It didn't take long since the bone wasn't actually broken and so she attacked him again, this time with her knee, strengthened by chakra, hitting his chin and allowing her chakra to leak into his body and heal his wound. "Too bad you didn't let your dog stay," she said as she repeated the same process with a punch to his face. He coughed up some blood, but she wouldn't let him fall to the ground because as he started falling she kicked his chin and he flew into the air. She followed him up and immediately started punching him repeatedly until she gave one last strong punch which sent him rocketing towards the floor. She landed with both feet on his stomach allowing more of her chakra to leak into his body and heal him. She crouched down while still on top of him and threw a punch filled with chakra at his face but she faltered when a very familiar voice screamed her name and the punch hit just beside his head leaving a small crater in the ground. Looking at Kiba's face she noticed that he was already unconscious so she stood and looked around to find who had interrupted her.

Naruto stood at the door with Akamaru whimpering in his arms. All of a sudden she felt bad for what she had done so she walked up to the boy that Ino had control of at the moment, told her to let him go, and then knocked him out with one punch. She and Ino were declared the winners and the medics ran to Kiba's side to bring him to the nurse's office. Naruto followed them into that room with Akamaru and Sasuke, and Sakura sighed knowing that they would have to talk about this. Naruto wouldn't be mad or blame her for any of it, but knowing him he wouldn't understand her reasoning at all.

* * *

The medic nins left the room soon after coming in saying that they were surprised at how little he had been hurt when he had gotten so badly beaten up and the room was filled with an awkward silence. Sasuke was standing with Naruto and for a moment Sakura felt betrayed that he chose to stand on Naruto's side when he thought the same way she did, but then she remembered that Sasuke loved Naruto and she no longer could blame him. Akamaru was still whimpering when Naruto put it down onto Kiba's stomach to curl up. Naruto didn't say anything, but he sat down with a worried look on his face. It was a common thought between Sakura and Sasuke that he worried too much for his friends.

"Naruto," sighed Sakura, "He'll be fine. I healed him while I was beating him up." She caught Sasuke's stare a little too late. She had said too much. Naruto gave a confused look and she immediately knew he was wondering why she had been beating Kiba up. "I did it for you."

Naruto's eyes widened and he asked, "Why? Did I give you the impression that I wanted you to beat him up. I didn't mean to if I did. I guess I should say I'm sorry to him when he wakes up."

"You gave no such impression," Sakura gasped, "I did it because I was so sick and tired of everyone belittling you. If he just realized how wrong he was maybe he would stop underestimating you and putting you down."

"Thank you Sakura," sighed Naruto, but Sakura knew that he wasn't finished, "but he has never once underestimated me."

"Naruto!" said Sakura, "I don't know if you're blind, but he has been doing nothing, but underestimating you since the beginning of this test."

"Sakura," Naruto eyes narrowed into an older look that he only took when he was scolding someone, "Akamaru can sense the strength of anyone he meets. That's why he's so afraid of Gaara at first."

"So?" asked Sakura confused.

"So, have you ever known Kiba not to listen to his dog?"

"No?" said Sakura, "Naruto I don't get where you're going with this."

Naruto sighed again. "Akamaru sensed my strength the moment he met me and then he told Kiba. Kiba has known I was strong since before we even graduated, but he himself wants to be strong so he tries to make everyone else think he's stronger than me by putting me down since I let him do it."

"Naruto, I know he's underestimating us," Sakura protested, "He even sent his dog away because he thought he could beat me on his own!"

"He was protecting Akamaru," Naruto threw back at her, "He knew you were going to beat him up so he decided that he wouldn't let the same thing happen to his dog. He even asked Akamaru to come find me because he knew the dog would be safe with me. He's not a bad person Sakura. He just wants to be stronger."

"You're defending him! He's done nothing but put you down all this time. I am sick and tired of you defending all the people who hate you!"

"Sakura," Sasuke tried to warn seeing Naruto's eyes dim.

"Can't you see that they don't like you and they probably will hate you no matter what you do?"

"Sakura," Sasuke hissed.

"I am trying to protect you from them. The only thing that you're succeeding in is to hurt yourself."

"That's enough!" Sasuke said finally getting through to Sakura.

"That may be so, but if I have to hurt myself to help others than I will gladly do it even if they hate me because they are my friends and they live in the village that I love," Naruto said quietly.

"Why can't you just let us protect you?" she yelled, "We're your family! Are we not as important as those people?" Before Naruto could even answer Sakura stormed out of the room.

Sasuke debated briefly on whether he should stay and console Naruto or leave and console Sakura, but he saw that Kiba's eyes were open so he decided to leave those two to work it out while he talked to his other teammate.

Naruto put his head in his hands as he heard Sasuke follow Sakura. _"I guess they both think that way," _he thought to himself. It didn't surprise him though. Sasuke always took his side for some reason, but he knew that Sasuke didn't always agree with him. Whenever Sasuke agreed with him he would actually take over the argument, but when he didn't he would not speak unless it was absolutely necessary. Naruto didn't know why Sasuke always sided with him, but maybe it was because he thought that Naruto was too sensitive and would get upset.

"She shouldn't have said that," said Kiba from the bed beside him.

"It's okay," whispered Naruto, "It's my fault anyway."

"How is that your fault?" Kiba asked.

"Sakura was just trying to help me and I was fighting against her," sighed Naruto, "it's my fault."

"You were defending me," said Kiba, "and I have been doing nothing but be mean to you. I don't think it's your fault."

"I'm sorry for that too," muttered Naruto.

"Why?" asked Kiba completely confused.

"I shouldn't have let you do that either. I thought that it might encourage you to work harder to get stronger, but I think it was a stupid idea. I think the reason that Sakura was so mad at me was because she knew that I'm actually stopping you from getting any stronger."

"What do you mean?"

"Because I allow you to put me down you spend all the time trying to make me seem weaker instead of trying to get stronger to match my strength."

"So," said Kiba, "Isn't that my fault too?"

"No," gasped Naruto, "I'm not blaming you at all. I was just saying that I shouldn't have let you make me seem weaker so that you could concentrate on training."

"Do you blame yourself for everything?" asked Kiba.

"Only the things that are my fault."

* * *

"That was too far," Sasuke muttered when he met Sakura in the hallway.

"I'm sorry," she muttered without looking at him, "I just don't think that it's fair that he has to endure so much and then without even thinking he takes every fault and makes it so that it's his fault. I don't understand why he does that."

"When you're told something over and over again for long enough you'll begin to believe it yourself. Even more so when you are a small child who has yet to learn the way of the world."

"What do you mean?" she asked finally turning to look at him.

"Naruto has been told that he was the cause of all those people's deaths that Kyuubi killed. For as long as he's been alive if anything went wrong it was his fault. He's been told that he was a demon and that he does everything wrong for so long that it's made him think that it's the truth."

"That's horrible!" gasped Sakura.

"I've been trying to show him that he's wrong ever since I figured out about it, but I think that now it's a lot harder since we're back at the point where the whole village hates him again. I think he's actually been getting depressed lately because of the villagers."

"Great," Sakura slid to sit on the ground where she put her head in her hands and Sasuke crouched to join her, "that means I probably just made it worse by blaming him for doing something good."

"Yes," said Sasuke, "you probably did, but I think that if you apologize he'll forgive you without a second thought."

"I don't understand him Sasuke," she whispered, "he won't even get angry at me and when I do something wrong he just assumes that it was a simple mistake that doesn't even need an apology to fix. Sometimes he even apologizes to me for something that I've done wrong. Why does he do it?"

"I don't know," answered Sasuke, "I don't think I'll ever understand fully why he does anything that he does. The only thing that I know is that if he changes he won't be Naruto anymore."

Sakura laughed, "That's true, but sometimes I wish he would change just so he wouldn't have to endure so much pain."

"I do too," muttered Sasuke as he helped the girl up.

* * *

yay new chappie. i'm sorry this chapter is so horribly written, but i couldn't for the life of me figure out how to write this chapter. i hope you like it despite the fact that it's so horribly written


	22. Chapter 22

Sasuke and Sakura returned to the large room just as the next group of names appeared on the screen. Sasuke frowned at the names, but when he turned to Zabuza and Haku he saw that neither of them looked particularly bothered by it. Instead Zabuza was looking curiously at Sasuke while he and Haku made their way down to the lower floor. Sasuke shrugged at him and Zabuza turned away to whisper in Haku's ear.

Both Haku and Zabuza quietly took their places next to the sound ninjas that they were to be partnered with. Kabuto's two teammates were trying to tell Haku and Zabuza not to get in the way, but neither of them was listening. Both were watching as the propter re-explained the rules. Apparently they weren't expecting for there to be so much death and near death fighting in the two fights so he was trying to reassert that they should stop the violence as soon as it wasn't even necessary. He finally sighed when he realized that nobody was listening and motioned for the match to begin.

As soon as the match began Zabuza did a couple of hand signs and the room began to fill with mist. "I told you not to get in my way!" yelled the sound ninja who was on Zabuza's side. A loud laugh reverberated out of the mist only to be followed by a blood curdling scream. After a few seconds of silence the mist began to crystalize into a house shaped by mirrors. Zabuza stood outside of the house cleaning his huge sword of the blood that was dripping onto a barely recognizable body.

Through the cracks in the house of mirrors Sasuke could see as the needles that had once been attacking him and his love flew straight towards the only remaining sound ninja on the floor. The needles were thrown so hard that they pierced through the man and merge with the mirrors again. After only seconds the man fell to the ground and the mirrors melted to reveal Haku unscathed. He turned to the judge, bowed, and then walked off of the floor leaving only Zabuza to win the match.

Gaara watched with a detached expression as the people who had just spilled so much blood ended the match with a simple forfeit. He couldn't inhale the smell of the sweet blood that his mother always craved. He couldn't wait to go down there and do the same to whoever his opponent would be. He hungered for that blood that would feed his mother. The sand swirled around him as it sensed his excitement at having his name appear on the screen along with Hyuuga Neji, Hyuuga Hinata, and Rock Lee. The sand surrounded him and brought him down to the ground where his teammate, Neji, joined him a moment later.

Gaara growled when he realized that the propter was going through another one of his no kill speech, but then he felt a presence come into the room that entered his head and calmed his mind. It was warm and bright with a golden glow that exploded in his senses. He turned to the person that owned that comforting presence he saw that golden haired boy with blue eyes, he remembered the golden boy's name being Naruto, smiling straight at him. Gaara could feel his sand swirling around in happiness.

He kept staring at that smiling face until his own sand blocked his way. That's when he realized that the match had begun and that his sand had blocked an attack from the boy with the bowl cut and the bushy eyebrows. The boy had attacked him and then went straight back to fighting with the other man. Gaara hated to be ignored and that was exactly what was going on. He strengthened his sand with his own anger and sent it flying towards the boy wearing the green leotard. The sand slipped under the boy's feet and waited there until the perfect moment to strike arose.

Finally the boy, who Gaara assumed was named Lee, slipped on his sand and lost his footing sending him straight towards the attack Gaara was waiting for. He forced the chakra in his sand to move upward and encase all but the boy's head so he could watch the man that would take away his red blood. He put his hand forward and readied himself to feed his mother that blood that she so craved. As he began to close his hand he could feel the adrenaline course through his veins until it was replaced by shock.

A wall of sand passed in front of him and all of a sudden he was just outside of Sunagakure. "Where am I?" he muttered, knowing that he couldn't really be in his hometown.

"In a memory," a voice came from behind him.

Gaara turned to see Naruto standing there watching the sand before him move with the wind. "A memory? Which one?"

Naruto grinned. "Not your memory," he answered, "This memory is from your sand."

"My sand?" asked Gaara.

"Well of course," he answered, "Before you started carrying it around on your back all that sand that you have was in the air and on the ground of Sunagakure collecting memories."

"Sand can't have memories," Gaara said.

"Well of course it can," answered Naruto, "It's just hard for a human to read it after some time has passed."

"Sand can't have memories," Gaara repeated.

Naruto laughed, "Then I'll give you an example. A foot print left in the sand can only be seen by humans for a short amount of time, but it remains on the sand forever. Or a better example would be the blood from people that you kill. You can only see it for a short time on your sand but it will always remain there. Inanimate objects do have memories. Just not in the same way that a living creature does."

"Okay," Gaara said showing no sign of any emotion, "Why am I here?"

"I wanted to show you some stuff," answered Naruto, "and I don't want you to kill Lee."

"What stuff?" asked Gaara.

A great gust of wind blew around them and suddenly they were in a room with a pregnant woman that had blonde hair hanging straight to her shoulders, a little girl that had the same color hair pulled into four little pigtails, and a young boy sitting on the pregnant women's lap that had dark brown hair. Gaara's eyes widened a fraction. "Is that?"

"Yep," answered Naruto, "I believe she is six months pregnant. The little ones are five and three."

"Mommy?" asked the brown haired boy.

"Yes sweetheart?" asked her mother.

"Why is our little brother in your tummy?"

The woman laughed, "Because Gaara's not ready to come out yet."

"Why not?" he asked.

"That's a hard question to answer Kankurou," she said with a small smile.

"Because he's not grown up enough to play with us," answered the blonde little girl, "but when he comes out of your tummy can we play with him?"

"I'm afraid he still won't be quite strong enough to do that yet sweetheart," answered her mother.

"Why not?" she asked.

"You have to let him decide when he wants to play with you sweetheart."

"Mommy?" asked Kankurou.

"Yes?"

"Will he like us?"

"Well that's up to him," she answered, "but I'm sure that if you and Temari take good care of him he will surely like you."

"We will," said Temari with a determined expression, "I promise."

"Good," she laughed, "Why don't we go get a snack?"

"Yea!" cheered the two children as they followed their mother out.

"That didn't last long," grumbled Gaara not realizing that he was allowing some emotion to show.

"I wouldn't be quite so certain," answered Naruto making Gaara look at him curiously, "Shall we follow them?"

Gaara nodded before leading the way to where he knew the kitchen was only to find that when he opened the door he was in a hospital room. The nurses were scrambling all over the place trying to get everything ready for what they were just about to do. His father stood in the corner of the room watching with a detached expression. He watched as his mother screamed while she was trying to give birth to him. He didn't want to watch this. He didn't want to watch himself kill his own mother. "I don't want to see this," he said turning to Naruto, "I don't want to see this."

"You don't want to see what you think will happen," answered Naruto, "but I think you'll be surprised as to what really happens."

"Why are you doing this?" Gaara asked with a note of hysterics.

"Because I don't want to have to stand by and watch as a friend of mine suffers for no reason," answered Naruto, "Because I want you to know the truth about your life that your father has been keeping from you."

Suddenly a loud cry was heard in the room and Gaara turned to see himself as a little baby. His mother was gasping for breath, but still she held out her hands for the crying baby. "Leave us," his father practically growled.

"Hey my little baby boy," his mother cooed, "There's no need to cry. I've got you now. There's no need to cry."

"Love," said his father.

She turned to look at him with a bright smile, "Isn't he beautiful?"

"He's a weapon," answered his father.

"Oh not that again," she growled, "I already told you that I'm not going to let you use my son as a weapon. He's a boy not a weapon."

"I know," said his father as he moved towards them, "That's why I'm sorry, but I can't let you live to stop me."

She didn't even have time to scream before he plunged a kunai in her chest. The little baby in her arms screamed for her and the windows shattered as sand spilled into it. His father escaped through the door while the little baby screamed and the sand trashed everything in the room except for the bed that he and his mother lay on. Some of the sand wove around his mother's wound trying to create pressure to stop the bleeding, but it was already much too late because his father had pierced the kunai through her heart.

"I didn't kill my mother?" Gaara was shocked.

Naruto shook his head, "You tried to save her."

Gaara started to move forward wanting more than anything to touch his mother's skin. To feel how she felt, but Naruto grabbed his hand and pulled him back. "You can't touch her," he said, "This is only a memory."

Gaara stared for a moment longer until Naruto tugged him out of the room through the door they had come in through and into the kage's room. "How are you doing this?" asked Gaara.

"This jutsu allows me to go through memories of inanimate objects and decide what I want to look at." He neglected to mention that he was going through these memories so fast because he had shown them to the future Gaara already.

"Why are we here?" asked Gaara.

"Watch," said Naruto motioning for Gaara to move away from the door.

Just as Gaara moved the door opened to reveal a young Temari leading Kankurou into the room by the hand. "Where's Gaara?" asked Temari.

"He's with your uncle Temari," his dad answered without even looking up.

"Okay," she said as they both turned to leave.

"I don't want you seeing him," their father said.

"Why not?" asked Temari as she turned back to look at the kage.

"Because he's a monster," he answered.

"Gaara's not a monster!" yelled Kankurou, "A monster is something that lives under your bed and eats you."

"He killed your mother," said their father.

For this Kankurou had to look at his sister. He had heard the word a few times, but he still had yet to figure out what it meant. Temari had stiffened at the word and her hand had clenched against Kankurou's so hard that it looked almost painful. "That's not true," she said.

"It's true," answered their father.

"You're a liar!" she screamed, "Gaara would never do that!" suddenly she seemed to get ahold of herself and she turned to Kankurou, "Come on little brother let's go see Gaara."

"I said you weren't to see him," growled their father.

"I don't care!" she screamed as they both ran out the door.

Two ANBU members appeared in the room and looked at the Kazekage for their orders. "I don't care how you do it. Just keep them away from Gaara." The ANBU bowed and disappeared.

Naruto pulled the shocked Gaara out of the room into a street that he knew was on the way to his uncle's house from the Kazekage's office. He heard the loud footfalls of two children running as quickly as they could down the road until they were stopped by the two ANBU that were in the room earlier. Right in front of Gaara and Naruto the ANBU picked up the two children and brought them into an alleyway just to the right even though they were kicking and screaming. "We have been instructed to use whatever means necessary to keep you away from Gaara," said one of the ANBU.

"So we must ask you to turn back and go home now before we have to do so," said the other.

"We're going to see our little brother!" yelled Temari.

"Very well," said the ANBU. Fists flew and screams echoed in the air as the ANBU beat the little children until they could no longer move. Naruto had to stop Gaara from attempting to save them again. When the children were unconscious the ANBU picked them up and headed towards their home.

"Those bastards," growled Gaara as his fists clenched.

"I know," Naruto nodded. The sand on the ground lifted around them and when it disappeared they found themselves in a tiny apartment where Kankurou was in bed with bandages all around him and Temari, with just as many bandages and a limp to her step, was making some sandwiches for them to eat.

"Nee-chan," said Kankurou from his place in the one bed, "Why did they do that? We just wanted to see outoutou. They didn't have to hurt us."

"Kankurou," she answered, "You're only three."

"I'm three and a half," Kankurou interrupted.

"You're only three and a half. You shouldn't have to understand these things."

"Neither should you," Gaara muttered.

"Unfortunately," answered Naruto, "She's is the daughter of a bastard kazekage and she has been forced to take care of Kankurou all by herself. She doesn't have a choice, but to understand the world around her."

"Why isn't my father taking care of them?" The only answer he received was a look that clearly said _'You know why.'_

"Maybe Gaara's still too weak to see us," Kankurou said hopefully, "Maybe when he gets stronger and older then we can see him."

"Maybe," said Temari with a sad smile as she climbed into the uncomfortable bed with Kankurou, "After this we have to go to bed."

"Why?" whined Kankurou.

"Because we want to be strong enough to meet Gaara when he's strong enough to meet us and it will make the time go faster."

"Okay," said Kankurou. He quickly finished his sandwich and buried himself into the covers urging his sister to finish quickly and turn off the lights.

After a couple of seconds Kankurou was fast asleep and Temari snuck out of the bed and out of the room. "Should we follow her?" asked Gaara.

"No," answered Naruto, "She'll be back soon."

Only a few moments later two ANBU appeared with a bloody and bruised little girl that they deposited onto the bed and left without a second thought.

"She tried again?" asked Gaara with another shocked expression.

"Every day," answered Naruto.

Gaara turned to him with anger in his eyes, "They did that to her every day?"

"Yes," Naruto nodded.

"I'll kill them," Gaara growled.

"They're already dead," answered Naruto, "Temari is one strong little girl when her mind is set on something, and those men had become too cocky."

"She killed them?"

Naruto nodded. "It was an accident though."

There was a clanging sound in the kitchen and Gaara turned to see a ten year old Temari making some ramen. She seemed upset and had already burned herself on the cooktop.

"Is this?"

"Just after she killed those men. Yes."

"I'm home," yelled an eight year old Kankurou as he bound into the room.

"How was school?" she asked even though she was still slightly out of it.

"Why isn't she in school?" asked Gaara.

"She took an accelerated course so that she could take care of Kankurou and try to get to you. She already passed the tests and now she just has to wait until she is thirteen in order to get her hitai-ate."

"It was so cool. Everyone loved my puppets. I even got to put on a puppet show."

"That's great," Temari smiled at her brother as she poured them both a bowl, "Sorry I couldn't make anything better. We ran out of everything and I didn't go to the store."

"Are you okay?" asked Kankurou, "You don't look so good."

"I'm fine," she smiled.

"What's wrong with her," asked Gaara.

"She killed her first person today. People who kill others as children often have to endure some sort of trauma. This is her form of trauma."

"I didn't feel any trauma."

"You're still going through your trauma," answered Naruto, "You just haven't realized it yet."

"I have to go out," said Temari as she put her now empty bowl in the sink, "Could you please wash the dishes when you're done."

"Sure," said Kankurou.

"Why is he just letting her leave?" asked Gaara, "hasn't he realized it."

"He has," said Naruto, "but he wants to see you just as much as she does."

"Then why doesn't he go with her?" he asked.

"Because he also knows that the reason she's trying to keep it a secret from him is because she's trying to protect him."

"Oh," said Gaara, "Why are they doing that?"

"Because they love their family," answered Naruto, "Well all but their father."

They followed after Temari to a roof top. "I recognize that roof top," said Gaara pointing to the one right across from them, "That's where I killed my uncle." Gaara's eyes widened when he realized that he had told one of his best kept secrets to a complete stranger

Naruto just pointed to Temari who had just landed on the roof top next to him and then turned back to the rooftop that Gaara had pointed out. As they watched he saw his uncle come out and attack him. Temari stood in frozen shock next to him as Gaara engraved the word love on his face and then fainted from the pain and blood loss. Temari quickly went and got him and pulled him to her own house.

Naruto pulled Gaara through the door back into the room where Kankurou was washing the dishes just in time to see Temari kick the door open to reveal her and her five year old brother. "Is he okay?" asked Kankurou.

"He'll be fine," answered Temari as she struggled to carry him over to the bed with all of her injuries that she had sustained from the ANBU on past days.

"Who did this to him," growled Kankurou, "I'll kill him."

"You shouldn't say that you'll kill someone so easily," answered Temari, "besides, he's already dead."

"Who was it?" asked Kankurou.

"I'll tell you later," answered Temari.

"To this day she still hasn't told him what happened," said Naruto, "Come on."

They went through the door to find the Kazekage at his desk. As they moved away from it the door burst open to reveal Temari, now sixteen, and Kankurou, now fourteen. "I want you to put Gaara on our team," she demanded of their father.

"No," he answered, "You already disobeyed me by seeing him. I will not allow you to have him on your team."

"Fine," said Temari. She left slamming the door after them.

They only waited a moment before the door opened again. "You called?" asked Temari with a smirk on her face.

"I heard that you beat up your teammate."

"Really?" asked Temari, "Is that what you heard Kankurou?"

"I heard that she was so badly injured that she might never be able to be a ninja again," answered Kankurou.

"Why?" growled the Kazekage.

"We want Gaara on our team."

"I already told you that wasn't going to happen."

"Then you are going to lose a lot more ninjas."

"How many did it take before he agreed?" asked Gaara.

"Seven," answered Naruto.

"Then they really wanted me on their team?" asked Gaara.

"Of course they did," answered Naruto, "That's all I wanted to show you."

"Why did you do this?" asked Gaara.

"I already told you. I don't want my friend to suffer."

Before Gaara could say anything a wall of sand separated him from Naruto and he found himself back on the floor where he had Lee wrapped in a deadly case of sand. He dropped his hand that was still in the position to do the sand coffin and looked over at Naruto to find him smiling at him. Then he looked over at his brother and sister to find that they looked really relieved though he didn't know why.

"Would you hurry up and get rid of him so we can move on?" said Neji next to him.

"Propter," said Gaara, "if you don't stop this match now I can kill him with one movement."

"No!" yelled Lee, "I can still fight!"

"Can you move?" asked Gaara. Lee didn't answer. "That means that you are unable to fight. Therefore we win."

"I guess that's true," said the propter, "Then Neji and Gaara win."

* * *

Yay new chappie


	23. Chapter 23

As Naruto made his way up the stairs Sakura watched while trying to think of a way to apologize, but as soon as he arrived he said, "I'm sorry Sakura. I shouldn't have gotten upset with you."

"No!" she gasped, "It wasn't your fault. I was the one who got wrongly angry at you. I should be the one apologizing."

"No!" gasped Naruto in return, "You didn'tdo anything wrong."

"_Just accept the apology," _Sasuke said making sure that his voice only sounded in Sakura's mind, _"You know he won't blame you for anything, and will argue with you ended with another fight. He doesn't need that right now."_

"Alright," sighed Sakura making Naruto smile, "I'll accept your apology on one condition. You have to accept my apology as well."

For a moment Naruto looked distressed and Sakura thought he might argue with her some more, but instead he nodded with a bright smile.

"The fight's about to begin," said Kiba with a worried tone, "I hope Hinata will be okay."

"You should root for her," said Naruto, "I think she would like it if you did that."

"Okay," said Kiba. The moment the match began Kiba was already shouting out his praises for Hinata and how he knew she could do it. Naruto smiled even though he knew that Hinata probably would be badly injured he knew that Kiba would be able to help her through it like he had done in the future.

Team seven watched silently as Gaara began his attack on Lee. Sasuke's only warning was a short glance before he was forced to catch Naruto's falling body. He gently set Naruto down on the ground and sat behind him so that Naruto could lean against him. Sakura crouched down next to him and whispered, "Is he using that jutsu again?"

"Yep," answered Sasuke as he stroked Naruto hair out of his face.

"He looks so peaceful when he's sleeping," Sakura smiled. Sasuke nodded as he held Naruto close to his chest and watched as he breathed. "When are you going to tell him that you love him?" asked Sakura deciding that maybe the direct root would get them together.

Sasuke almost choked on his own breath when he heard that. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh come on Sasuke," said Sakura, "We could all see that you were in love with him. When are you going to tell him that you love him?"

"Probably never," sighed Sasuke.

"What?" gasped Sakura, "Why not?"

"I can't burden him with that," said Sasuke as he stroked Naruto's hair out of his face again.

"How is that a burden?" asked Sakura, "If anything it would probably make him happy." She tried to mentally urge Sasuke to realize that she was hinting at Naruto's love for him, but he did not get the hint.

"I won't force my love on him when he's got the weight of the world's future on his shoulders."

"You have the same weight on your shoulders," said Sakura with a sad expression.

"No Sakura," he said, "I could care less about the world's future. I only care about helping Naruto and keeping him safe."

"Oh," said Sakura, "I still think you should tell him."

"And I think you should shut up," growled Sasuke.

"Sorry Sasuke," said Sakura as she decided to leave him alone for a while. She would not give up though, she decided, she would get them together one day.

* * *

Temari and Kankurou had been watching their beloved little brother throughout the whole match when they got the shock of their life. Just as he was about to use the sand coffin on a kid with a bowl haircut Gaara's eyes became blank and he stood frozen on the floor. "What's wrong with him?" asked Kankurou.

"I don't know," answered Temari as she shook her head.

"Do you think that the demon is trying to take control again?"

"I don't think so," said Temari, "It doesn't look like he's in pain. He's usually in pain when it tries to take control."

"Then what's wrong with him?" Kankurou growled as he clenched his fists around the railing keeping him on the second floor.

"I don't know," Temari repeated.

"Well we have to help him," Kankurou turned and shouted at Temari.

"We can't," Temari shook her head again. She had a worried expression on her face and her fists were clenched tightly at her side.

"Then what can we do?" asked Kankurou.

"Stand here, watching and hoping that he can make it through whatever that is."

"We can't do that. Can't we even help him a little?"

"No," said Temari.

"But he's our little brother," Gaara growled, "There must be something we can do."

"That's exactly why we should trust that he can make it through this on his own."

At that very moment they heard Gaara's voice telling the propter to end the match. They both turned to see there little brother making his way up the stairs and they both sighed in relief. When he arrived near them he just stared at their faces. For a moment their was nothing but awkward silence until Temari gathered the courage to ask, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," said Gaara.

"What happened?" asked Kankurou.

Gaara looked over at Naruto and then back to his brother and sister. "I realized something," he answered.

"What's that?" asked Temari gaining courage by the fact that Gaara was responding to them like he never had.

"I didn't kill mom," he said quietly.

"What?" both his brother and sister gasped with shocked expressions.

"I didn't kill mom," he repeated.

"That's great," said Temari with a bright smile. She hoped that maybe he would be able to let their mother go and become a person of his age. Maybe he could finally be released from the weight of her death.

"Then who did?" asked Kankurou. Temari wanted to strangle him for asking that question that would just make an unusually slightly happy Gaara upset.

"I don't think you want to know," said Gaara shaking his head.

"Oh I want to know," protested Kankurou, "I want to know who killed our mother and who pinned it on our little brother. I want to know who did it so that I can kill him."

"Kankurou," Temari tried to scold him.

"No!" growled Kankurou, "I'm sick and tired of you two keeping secrets from me like how our uncle died when he was trying to kill Gaara."

"How did you figure out about that?" gasped Temari.

Before Kankurou could answer Gaara said, "It was our father."

Temari gasped, "Why?"

"Because mom wouldn't let him use me as a weapon."

"How did you figure this out?" asked Temari.

"Do you not believe me?" Gaara answered.

"I do," said Temari, "I just wanted to know."

"I'll tell you later."

* * *

the last chapter was longer than usual so this one is shorter than usual. sorry


	24. Chapter 24

The next two matches were finished relatively quickly with Shikamaru and Chouji defeating Dosu's two teammates and Shino and Ten Ten defeating Temari and Kankurou. Both matches were close calls, but at the end the leaf ninja proved to be superior in their matches.

All the winners were called down to the bottom floor so that they could be congratulated and told what they were going to do next. They were given a month to rest and strengthen their skills before the Hokage announced that they were to pull a number to find out who they would be competing against. Naruto pulled the number one with Neji as his opponent on number two. Gaara pulled three and Sasuke pulled four. Ten Ten pulled five and Shikamaru pulled six. The number seven was pulled by Ino while the number eight was pulled by Shino. Zabuza pulled number ten and he was to go up against Chouji who held number eleven. The winner of the match would face Sakura as number nine.

Naruto and Sasuke couldn't have been happier. They were paired with the people that they had needed to face up against in order for their plan to work. This had been the one thing they couldn't count on throughout the whole chunin exams because they couldn't control chance.

"Alright," said the Hokage, "Now all of you would do well to train and learn new jutsus so that you aren't using the same tired out old tricks against your opponent who has already seen them. You are dismissed." The Hokage disappeared into thin air as the stadium erupted into a large amount of chatter. Some conversations were about congratulations while others were about the new jutsus that they would learn.

From the corner of his eye Naruto noticed that Iruka was staring at him so he turned to Sasuke and said, "Hey, I'll be right back," before leaving to talk to Iruka.

"Congratulations Naruto," he said, "you and your team did really well."

"Thank you," said Naruto.

"Naruto," said Iruka, "I'm sorry that I doubted you. It wasn't fair of me. I should have believed in you, but I worry sometimes and I don't want you to be hurt. Please understand me."

"I do understand," Naruto smiled, "I'm glad you feel that way. I'm glad that you worry for me. It makes me feel like you're my father looking after his only son who he's just starting to let out into the world. It's understandable that the father would worry for his son since he's not quite sure if his son was ready to be by himself, but the truth is Iruka-sensei that father will never know unless he lets the boy go even though he may worry and then if the boy isn't ready holds his arms open and ready to take him back. The best thing you can do for me now is to do that Iruka. "

"I understand," Iruka nodded his head, "but don't think that means that I will stop worrying about you."

"I wouldn't dream of it," said Naruto, "I have to go back to my team now. I don't want them to worry because I've been gone too long."

"Alright," Iruka agreed, "but you'll have to let me treat you to some ramen afterwards."

"Of course," Naruto said as he walked away.

Before he could reach his team two ANBU appeared before him. "The Hokage would like to see you," said one of them.

"Alright," said Naruto, "Just let me tell my friends and then I'll go over there."

Suddenly his arm was twisted violently behind his back dangerously close to breaking. He yelped as his feet were kicked out from underneath him and one of the ANBU's fell on top of him to pin him to the floor. "The Hokage wants to see you now."

The whole room was silent as the ANBU said those words and they all stared at the three of them until a voice rang out among the crowd. "What the hell is going on?" Kiba's voice seemed to spur everyone else on as Sasuke and Sakura tried to move forward and sand wrapped it's way around the legs of the ANBU.

"What the hell?" yelled the ANBU not holding Naruto down as he slashed at the sand keeping his teammate from moving. The sand only wrapped around both the men tighter and yanked them up so they were suspended in midair just as Sasuke and Sakura reached them. "Are you alright Naruto?" asked Sakura as they both helped him up.

"I'm fine," Naruto said as he twisted his should in a circle to try to get some of the pain to subside. "Thank you Gaara," he said as he looked over at the redhead who promptly let the ANBU fall onto the floor and then left immediately after.

Both ANBU jumped to their feet with their kunai out, but they were met with the sharp edge of Zabuza's long sword. "Why did you attack Naruto?" he growled.

"We have to take him to the Hokage," growled one of the ANBU, "and you're getting in our way. If you don't let us through I'm afraid we'll have to take you down."

"It's alright Zabuza," said Naruto, "I'm gonna head over to the Hokage now. You can put your sword away." Zabuza grumbled something under his breath before placing his sword back on his back where it belonged. The ANBU turned to where Naruto had been only to find that he was no longer their.

They arrived outside of the Hokage's office using there transportation jutsu and shocking the two ANBU guards. "What business do you have here?" one of them asked as he quickly got over his shock.

"I was called here by the Hokage," said Naruto.

"I know that," growled the ANBU, "I was talking to them."

"You didn't actually think that we would let him go to the Hokage's office alone did you?" asked  
Sakura.

Before the ANBU could say anything else the door opened to reveal the Hokage. "Oh," he said, "You're here. Come in."

They walked inside of the room to see the two elders sitting on one of the two couches that sat across from eachother in the room. The Hokage sat quietly at his desk and motioned for them to sit down as well. All three of them sat on the couch opposite of the elders with Naruto sitting in the middle. There was an awkward silence as everyone stared at eachother until Sasuke finally growled out, "Why did you have those ANBU attack Naruto?"

"I don't think he did," said Naruto.

"Why else would they have attacked you. They can't do it without orders."

"Actually they can," reasoned Naruto, "If they can make it seem like I was trying to disobey them they can attack me and say that it they were just following orders."

"The ANBU that I sent attacked you?" the Hokage asked with a surprised voice.

"Yes," answered Naruto with a shrug of his shoulders.

"I'm sorry about that," he said, "I didn't think they would attack you."

"Doesn't matter now," said Naruto, "Why did you call me up here? And why are the elders here?"

"Well I don't know how to say this…" the Hokage began, but he was interrupted by the elder woman.

"Where did you get all that strength from?" she asked, "There's no way a genin could have learned all that you have."

"There are ways to do everything," answered Naruto, "The only thing you have to do is find those ways."

"Answer the question boy," hissed the elder man.

"Kyuubi taught me," Naruto answered.

There was silence in the room again for a short moment before the elder woman spoke, "You could talk to the demon?"

"No," he said.

"Then how?" asked the elder man.

"I could speak to the spirit of the land of fire," said Naruto, "Until he died that is."

"That's impossible," accused the woman, "the demon dying and you talking to it."

"My father isn't perfect. His seal was flawed," said Naruto, "And because Kyuubi was sealed inside of me it can die if I die."

"But you're not dead," said the man.

"But I was dead."

"That's not possible," said the woman, "You can't die and then come back to life."

"I can if Kyuubi gave up her life so that she could bring me back to life. There are other ways to be resurrected as well."

"I don't believe you," said the man.

"That demon wouldn't give up his life for a mere container such as you," said the woman.

"If you don't believe me," said Naruto, "Why don't you have a medical ninja come in here to check if I have two chakras."

"We will," said the man, before waving his hand at an ANBU who had been waiting in the corner for some osrt of orders. The ANBU disappeared and returned moments later with one of the medic nins.

"You called for me?" she bowed politely.

"Yes," said the man, "We want you to check his chakra signature and make sure that he isn't lying about the death of the Kyuubi."

The medic nodded in order to cover the grimace that rose to her face at having to examing the monster. She moved closer to him and told him to take off his shirt. He did so to reveal a perfectly muscled tan chest and abdomen. She had to remind herself who she was dealing with as the examined the monster's chest. "I can only find one chakra signature," she said even as she continued to look. Finally she gave up and moved back.

"This can't be," the elder woman's eyes were wide with shock, "You were actually telling the truth."

"I don't like to lie," said Naruto as he put his white shirt back on. As soon as his shirt was back on and the medic realized she didn't have anything left to stare at she excused herself and left the room.

"Then how did you die?"

"It was a training accident," Naruto answered.

"_I thought you said you didn't like to lie," _Sakura said to him in a somewhat joking manner.

"_I said I didn't like to lie," _Naruto smiled at her _"not that I never lie, but apparently these stupid old people don't realize the difference."_

"_Careful Naruto," _said Sakura, _"Or one day you'll be one of those stupid old people."_

"_Never."_

"_Are you saying you'll never be old?" _asked Sasuke with a smirk, _"Cause you're already pretty stupid."_

"_You're so mean to me," _Naruto said with a pout.

"Are you listening to me!" yelled the elder woman.

"Nope," answered Sasuke.

"Not at all," said Sakura.

"What were you saying?" asked Naruto.

The elder woman hissed at them, but before she could say anything the Hokage broke in with his own words. "It's nothing important. You guys need to get some rest after your tiring day."

All three of them nodded before they made their way silently to the door. Just as Naruto, the last to leave, was closing the door he said, "Oh yeah. I almost forgot to tell you. You should probably increase the security detail on the chunin exams because the sound and sand ninjas are going to attack us and try to destroy our village."

"How do you know this?" asked the Hokage.

"Kabuto, who worked for Orochimaru, was trying to get on my good side. I don't think he realized that he dropped a lot of subtle hints about it." Then the door was shut and the conversation was over.

Naruto collapsed in his room as soon as he got home from Ichiraku's. He was so exhausted from the events that had transpired that day. First he had to fight again Kabuto and Dosu. Then he had to deal with Kakashi-sensei. After that he had to show Gaara the past. Then the Hokage and the elders. Then right after that he had to go to Ichiraku's and pretend that he was completely fine when he really just wanted to go home. Not to mention he was still trying to get rid of the seal.

The seal was already beginning to fade and Naruto knew that it would only take a few more days before it would be completely gone. _"That's good,"_ Naruto thought to himself, _"Now I won't have to worry about having to deal with two seals at once." _He placed his hand on his stomach and traced the invisible seal that still lies dormant there. Finally his eyes slipped closed and he drifted into a night of restless sleep.

* * *

sorry guys. i was too lazy to write the last two matches since they didn't really have all that much importance in the story. i hope you like this chapter.


	25. Chapter 25

Naruto rubbed his shoulder as he waited for his teammates to arrive at the bridge. He hadn't gotten any sleep the night before because the last moments of the disapearing seal were the most painful. He had writhed in bed all night from the pain that had encompassed him. The pain still lingered in his shoulder, but it was only a fraction of the pain that he had felt before.

"What are you doing here so early?" Sasuke asked when he arrived.

"I couldn't sleep," answered Naruto without turning from the serene sight of the water under the bridge.

"Was the seal bothering you again?" he asked.

Naruto nodded silently as Sasuke put his warm hand on his shoulder. The warmth spread into his own skin and melted the pain there. "It's gone now though," he said, "last night was the last of it."

"That's good," sighed Sasuke. Without thinking he leaned forward and kissed the spot that the seal had been. As soon as his lips touched the smooth cloth of Naruto's shirt he realized what he was doing and immidiately regreted it. He walked as quickly as he could to a tree near the bridge. When he turned back Naruto was staring curiously at him.

Naruto was shocked when Sasuke kissed his neck. He turned to ask Sasuke why, but Sasuke was already walking away from him so he settled for just staring at him curiously. He would ask him about it later.

"Hey guys," said Sakura. "What's up?"

"Nothing much," answered Naruto while Sasuke just shrugged.

"Are we ready to train a bit?" asked Sakura. They usually trained for the hour that they were waiting for Kakashi to arrive.

"Actually," said Naruto, "I didn't get much sleep last night. I think I'm going to take a little nap while you guys train."

"Why didn't you get much sleep," Sakura asked with clear concern, "You aren't having nightmares again are you?"

"I always have nightmares," answered Naruto, "but the reason that I didn't get much sleep this time is because of the seal."

* * *

Sasuke and Sakura had been fighting for 30 minutes, but the practice was different from usual. Sasuke threw punches relentlessly at Sakura that she could barely dodge and she didn't even get a chance to throw her own punches. She tried to block another one of Sasuke's punches, but he withdrew before she could grab hold of his hand and throw in her own attack.

"That's enough Sasuke," said Sakura as she dodged another one that came close to hitting her stomach. She knew that if it had hit her she would have at least two broken ribs and they couldn't have that when Kakashi came. "What's wrong with you? You've been really high strung. You almost broke some of my bones."

"I'm sorry," muttered Sasuke. He looked at the ground and then over to Naruto's peaceful, sleeping face.

"What's the matter?" she asked again.

Sasuke sighed. He didn't want to tell her, but he knew that she would keep pressing him until he gave her an answer and he'd rather tell her when Naruto wasn't awake. "I kissed Naruto," he said, "on the shoulder."

"That's what's got you so upset?" Sakura asked incredulously, "I kiss Naruto on the cheek all the time. That's a lot closer to the mouth."

"Yea, but this is different."

"How so?"

"I don't know," Sasuke sighed as he sat next to Naruto's sleeping form, "It just is."

"That's not an answer," said Sakura.

"I don't know Sakura. Could we just leave it alone for now?"

"Alright."

There was a moment of silence between them before a blood-curdling scream rang out in their clearing. Naruto's face distorted in fear and he grabbed at the closest thing that he could reach, which was Sasuke's right arm. Although he cringed at the pain, Sasuke allowed Naruto to keep him in the bone-breaking grip as Sakura rushed over. Naruto seemed to be writhing in pain on the ground and the hand that wasn't holding Sasuke was digging into the soft earth.

"Wake up Naruto!" Sasuke said frantically shaking him. "Wake up!"

There was another scream as Naruto's eyes shot open and the cracking sound of Sasuke's arm being broken from the strong grip. Sasuke, ignoring the pain in his arm, pulled Naruto into a hug and began drawing circles with his good hand on his back to try and soothe him. Sakura sat next to him and rubbed Naruto's shoulder while cooing at him in her own way of trying to calm him down.

"It hurt so much," Naruto cried, "and there was so much blood. It wouldn't stop. There was just so much blood."

"It's alright now," whispered Sasuke, "It was only a nightmare. You're awake now. It's all gone."

After a little while of crying on Sasuke's chest Naruto was finally able to pull away and wipe his eyes. Sasuke smiled and wiped a missed tear from Naruto's cheek. "Are you feeling better?"

Naruto nodded slightly and gave a little smile of his own. "I'm sorry," he said, "I didn't mean to worry you."

"It's fine," said Sakura, "We're just glad that we were able to help you."

Naruto nodded again. He was still recovering from that nightmare. He always had some sort of nightmares, but usually they weren't as bad as that one had been.

Sasuke gave his right arm to Sakura so that she could heal it and Naruto finally saw what he had done. "Did I do that?" he asked. Before anyone could answer he started to apologize frantically to Sasuke for hurting him.

"It's just a broken bone," said Sasuke. To them a broken bone was really nothing more than a bruise because they got so many of them fighting eachother and other enemies in the future. "And you were having a nightmare. You don't have to apologize."

"I know," said Naruto, "but I'm still sorry."

"It's fine," said Sasuke, "now just leave it be. It'll be gone in a bit."

"What happened?" asked Kakashi as he poofed near them and saw Sasuke's arm. "I thought I told you guys to try to not break any bones while practicing."

"Sometimes a broken bone or two is unavoidable during training," answered Sakura.

"That's true," agreed Kakashi, "but that is obviously not a break that came from training. So what happened?"

"None of your business," said Sasuke.

Kakashi growled and opened his mouth to lecture his team, but before he could Naruto said, "I did it on accident. I was asleep."

"Okay," said Kakashi. "What ever, but you need to hurry up and finish healing him Sakura becuase we have to go and meet the Hokage to learn about our new mission."

"New mission?" said Sakura, "but aren't we supposed to be training ourselves for the last test from the chunin exams."

"The Hokage seems to think that we're the best team for the job."

"What are we going to be doing?" asked Sasuke.

"No clue yet," answered Kakashi, "but I do know that it's an A-rank mission."

* * *

The four ninjas of team seven stood quietly in the Hokage's office. They had arrived when the Hokage was somewhere else so an ANBU went to get them while they stood there. Naruto sat down on one of the couches quietly.

The Hokage walked into the room a moment later. "Good," he said, "you guys are here."

"Yes we are," said Kakashi.

"Do you know why?"

"The only thing we know is that it's an A-rank mission," answered Sakura.

"That's correct," said the Hokage, "but it's even hard for an A-rank. It's bordering an S-rank mission."

"Then why are you giving it to genin?" asked Kakashi.

"This team is the only one that can fulfill this mission."

"Why?" Kakashi asked suspiciously.

"I recieved some intell from one of our spies telling me about a scroll that has been missing from this village for some time."

"What's so important about the scroll?" asked Naruto.

"It contains all the weakness of the village. It has justsus that could destroy us within a day."

"And you want us to go get it?" asked Sakura, "Why us specifically."

"The only way for you to get in is for you to be captured."

"Then why do you need us specifically?" growled Sasuke. He was getting tired of this dancing around the subject. He just wanted an answer.

"Not us," said Naruto. He remembered the scroll that they were talking about. He had to get it last time as well when he got back from the training with Jiraiya. "I'm the only one that can do this."

"Because of the Kyuubi?" gasped Sakura. "The Akatsuki has the scroll don't they?"

"Yes," sighed the Third, "and the only way for us to accomplishy getting it is for Naruto to get captured by them."

"We can't just send Naruto into the grasp," growled Sasuke.

"Sasuke," sighed Naruto.

"What?" he snapped.

_"I've done it before. Last time I was older and I didn't have any one to back me up, but now I'll have you guys. It'll be fine. We have to do this," _explained Naruto.

"Fine," he muttered.

"Good," said the Hokage. "Now the only other problem is that the mission has to be accomplished within two weeks if you want to make it in time for the last part of the chunin exams."

* * *

I GOT MY COMPUTER FIXED! That means i can start updating again. Yay!


	26. Chapter 26

"You don't have to do this you know," said Sasuke as he watched Naruto pack his bags.

"Of course I do," said Naruto, "I will do anything to protect the village I love."

"But we could find a different way to get the scroll," Sasuke tried.

"This is the best way to do it. It's the only way that we can get in without being detected."

"But there has to be another way."

"Sasuke," Naruto turned to Sasuke with his piercing gaze, "let it go. This mission has already been planned out and I've already decided to play my part in it so the only thing that you can do is help me at the end."

"But Naruto."

"No Sasuke," said Naruto. "I need you to support me in this. Please."

"Fine," sighed Sasuke. "Just promise me that you'll be careful."

"Of course I will Sasuke," Naruto said as he slung his bag over his shoulder. He grabbed the fake scroll that he was supposed to be taking to the village hidden in the sand and placed it into his knapsack. "I will be fine Sasuke."

Sasuke watched as Naruto walked out the door. The last thing he wanted to do was to let Naruto go straight into the clutches of the Akatsuki, but he knew that he could never convince Naruto not to do it so he watched with concern as he let Naruto out of his sight for the first time since he returned to the village.

* * *

Naruto walked slowly through the forest. He wasn't supposed to be in much of a hurry and the course that was chosen for him was supposed to be the quickest one. He knew his course by heart, but he didn't know where he was supposed to run into the Akatsuki. Itachi wanted that to be a surprise so that it didn't seem planned out. Naruto hated being kept in the dark. It made him giddy.

He readjusted the strap on his shoulder once more as he walked when something caught his attention. There was some chakra signatures in the background that he recognized to be Akatsuki. His back stiffened as three men dropped down and surrounded him.

"Well if it isn't a little fox out here all alone," said one of them.

"Well that just makes it easier for us," said another.

"What do you want from me?" asked Naruto as he reached into his knapsack and gripped the fake scroll.

"Oh don't worry," said the third, "we don't want that thing."

"Then what do you want?" asked Naruto.

"We want you," said Itachi as he walked out of the tree line behind him.

Naruto spun to face him directly and was met with the mangekyou sharingan.

* * *

_Naruto woke up in the middle of the forest with his hands chained above him in the tree branches. It only took him a few moments to realize that he was stuck in his nightmare which was made even worse because of the Mangekyou Sharingan. He struggled to break free from the chains, but it was fruitless. He had to at least try to get away from here because he knew what would happen next and he didn't want to have to experience it again. _

_ His friends arrived within seconds and he wanted to scream at them to leave before they got hurt, but his voice wasn't cooperating with him. When they saw him they immidiately tried to come to his rescue, but they were attacked by himself. He had to watch as his own self fought with his friends. Slowly killing them one by one. Ino was the first to fall and then Sakura and then all the rest died one by one until there was only Sasuke left. Sasuke fought with all his strength, but with one well place attack he fell to the ground, still alive but unable to move._

_ "I guess you can't protect me after all," said the evil Naruto. "It seems that you'll just die if you do." He forced Naruto's white sword slowly into Sasuke's stomach so that he would bleed out painfully._

_ Naruto screamed as his evil self killed his only love. His voice stil remained silent even as his throat grew sore. The evil Naruto laughed as he looked around at the bodies he had just created. He slid his sword across the throat of one of Naruto's friends slowly until the head was completely separated from the body. He carefully placed the head on top of a nearby stump and said, "Lookey Naruto. Lookey what happens when you make friends. They all die."_

_ Naruto watched as his evil self switched the sword so that the blunt end was facing towards his target. He began to bash the skull in with the weapons until it was nothing more than fragments. He continued to do that with every head as Naruto tried to beg for him to stop. Each time blood would spray onto his face._

_ "But Naruto," his evil self said, "I'm you. I'm only doing what you want me to do."_

_ "No," Naruto cried, "I don't want any of this. Please stop."_

_ "But I'm just getting to the best one," the evil Naruto said as he bent down and picked up Sasuke's head. He kissed the cold lips and placed it where he had placed every other one. He lifted the sword to hit Sasuke's head as Naruto screamed. "You know," sighed the evil one, "your screaming is really getting on my nerves. You should just shut up and die so that I can officially take your place." He walked up to Naruto and thrust his sword into Naruto's stomach. "So just die quietly."_

* * *

Naruto awoke to find his arms chained to a cement wall. For a moment he believed that he was still in his nightmare, but as reality washed over him Naruto realized that he was trapped in the Akatsuki's dungeon.

"Are you alright?" asked a woman that was in a cage just in front of his own. "You were screaming." The woman had long beautiful silver hair with bright green eyes and she was dressed in a lovely white kimono

"I'm fine," Naruto nodded. "It was just a nightmare." He swallowed the bile that was rising in his throat from the nightmare. He couldn't afford to throw up now.

"I see," she said. "Kyusuke has nightmares all the time."

"Kyusuke?" asked Naruto.

"He's in the cell next to you," she said gesturing with her chin to his right. He looked that way only to find that his view of the person was blocked by a grey stone wall. "My name is Irena. What is yours?"

"I'm Naruto," he answered.

"It's nice to meet you Naruto," she smiled. There was a moment of awkward silence between them as they both tried to think of something to say before Irena said, "If you don't mind me asking which demon do you have?"

"Excuse me?" asked Naruto shocked by the question.

"I'm sorry. I assumed that you had a tailled demon in you since both Kyusuke and I have one in us."

"They're not demons," said Naruto.

This time it was Irena's turn to be confused. "I don't understand," she said.

"They're not demons," Naruto repeated, "they are spirits who were supposed to protect the land that we live in until the humans began to fear their power and locked them away in human cages known as jinchuuriki."

"I'm afraid I still don't quite understand," said Irena. "Kyuusuke and I have only heard horrible stories about the de- I mean spirits that you're talking about."

"Perhaps you'd better understand it if you met the spirit that resides within you." Without letting her answer Naruto clasped his hands together, ignoring the shock he got for using his chakra, and performed a jutsu that forced both him and Irena into darkness.

* * *

just to let you know, I don't know what any of the jinchuuriki look like or what demons they hold so I'm just making up my own.


	27. Chapter 27

When he woke up again he was in the middle of a large garden filled with many trees and large flowers. It was beautiful, but all the big things seemed to make him feel small and weak. He felt almost insignificant in the large garden.

"Where are we?" asked Irena to his right as she rubbed her wrists.

"We are in your mind," said Naruto. He almost felt jealous that this woman had such a beautiful inner mind when he had a maze of blank hallways leading to painful and lovely memories all the same.

"That is amazing," she said, "You could use this jutsu on the guards so that he can let us out."

"I can only use this jutsu on other Jinchuuriki," said Naruto, "I'm sorry."

"Oh." She seemed to deflate as she said this word. Naruto couldn't really blame her. If he remember correctly she had been in the cell for many years before they would kill her so that they could take her spirit. "What did you mean when you said that I should meet the spirit."

"Well first we have to find it," answered Naruto, "which should be relatively easy since these trees line our path." He pointed the only path of grass that didn't have some sort of plant in the way of the trail.

"Are you sure this will be alright?"

"Of course," said Naruto. "Trust me."

As they walked the path the top of a large tree could be seen in front of them. The closer they got to the tree the bigger it became until they reached it's base and could no longer see the sky above them. The tree formed an opening much like a cage that was three time their size.

"You have to call on it," said Naruto.

"What do I say?" she asked.

"Just say its name."

"What is its name?"

"How many tails does it have?"

"3"

"Call it Sanbi then."

Irena called out the spirits name quietly. Then after a moment of timid silence and Naruto urging her to call it again she said the name a little louder. It reverberated inside of the hollow tree. Echoing that single word ominously within its darkness. There was a sound of beating wings as the spirit descended from the top of the tree. It was a white bird like creature that had three tails and pale blue eyes. "May I help you with something Irena?" it asked with it's soothing voice.

Irena was unable to say anything so Naruto said, "Miss Irena wanted to meet you."

"I'm glad that you wanted to meet me," said Sanbi.

"I know that voice," said Irena suddenly, "You're the one who sang me to sleep when I was a child."

"Of course. You had such a hard time falling to sleep at that time that I thought you might just need a lullaby."

"Why would you do that for me?"

"I have come to think of you as my child."

"But why?"

"Even though you two have never met you are still very close to eachother. Sanbi feels every feeling that you do. Every pain. Every happiness. She has come to think of you as her child because you are so close to eachother."

"I see."

"Kyuubi-sama," said Sanbi, "it is an honor to meet you as well, but I must ask what happened to your predecessor?"

"She died," said Naruto.

"Kyuubi-sama?" asked Irena.

"I have taken the name of Kyuubi when the Kyuubi before me died just as you will do when Sanbi dies."

"So you're one of the de- I mean spirits now?"

Naruto nodded. "Why don't you let Sanbi out of this cage? I'm sure she would like to spread her wings."

"Of course," gasped Irena, "but how do I do that?"

"This is your mind. If you do not want the cell to be there then it will disappear."

Irena nodded and closed her eyes. For a moment the cage wavered until it was no longer there. Sanbi squeeked in delight as she took flight and flew around there heads. She landed again for a moment to thank Irena gratefully before it took off again.

"I think that we should go and meet Kyusuke and his spirit now," said Naruto

"Do we have to go?" asked Irena.

Naruto laughed making her blush. "You can come back here whenever you want. It is your mind."

Irena blushed even more. She couldn't believe that she had been so stupid. "Alright let's go."

Naruto made the hand seal again and performed the jutsu once more. From a distance he could feel his body get shocked again, but he didn't much care. After that time in snow country and in the flying city things that tried to stop him from using his chakra and things that tried to suck out his chakra didn't seem to matter because he knew that he could beat them.

* * *

This time when they awoke they were in a bright yellow bedroom. It felt comfortable with it's childish dressers and small bed. There were several small toys on the floor. "Well it seems like this child has yet to see too much that will spoil his innocence," said Naruto with a serene smile.

Suddenly there was a loud thumping sound as someone came rushing to the room. The door slammed open to reveal a muscular man with blue hair and yellow eyes. He was much taller than both Irena, who was a full grown woman taller than Naruto was at 13.

"That can't be Kyusuke," Naruto muttered. Irena only shook her head.

"Who the heck are you and why are you inside of Kyusuke's mind?" growled the man.

"You must be a spirit," said Naruto, "You're the only one that I know of that still knows what he looks like in human form."

"Answer my question." he growled again.

"Miss Irena," gasped a little boy standing behind the man. He had brown hair and emerald eyes. He reminded Naruto of Konohamaru back at home. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for you," she said, "Who is this?"

"This is my dad," answered Kyusuke as he stepped between them so that he could introduce them to eachother. "Dad this is Miss Irena."

"And this is Naruto," said Irena pointing to Naruto.

Naruto leaned down to shake the small boys hand then stood back up to look at the man. "It is nice to meet you both," he said with a smile.

"It is an honor to meet you Kyuubi-sama," the dad bowed slightly to Naruto as Sanbi had done.

"Dad," said Kyusuke, "his name isn't Kyuubi-sama. It's Naruto."

"And you as well Yonbi," said Naruto.

"May I ask why you are here?" asked Yonbi.

"Originally I came on a mission to get a scroll from the Akatsuki," said Naruto truthfully, "but now my plans have changed to include getting you guys out of here."

"What do you mean?" asked Yonbi.

"I mean that we're going to escape from the Akatsuki before they kill Irena and Kyusuke."

"I agree with that," Yonbi nodded.

"But I'm going to need your help."

"How can I help."

"I highly doubt that Kyusuke can fight his way out of here and I can't do everything for him. I need you to take over long enough to get him out of here with Irena."

"Anything I can do to help."

"Alright," said Naruto, "I'm going to undo this jutsu and I need you both to be ready to go at any moment because I'm waiting for a word from my friends as to when I should break out."

"Yes sir," said Yonbi. He bowed once more as Naruto undid the jutsu.

* * *

Naruto woke up to feel one of the Akatsuki underlings prodding at him with his foot. "Wake up kid," he said. "The boss told me to come and get you. It looks like you are going to be the first one that we are going to experiment on." He leaned forward and took Naruto's cuffed hands off the wall. While he did this Naruto could see that there were two more underlings waiting outside the cell.

_"Please tell me that you guys are in position," _he said to his teammates while the underling forced him to stand up.

_"We're almost there Naruto," _answered Sakura.

_"Why?"_ asked Sasuke.

_"Because they are going to try and force Kyuubi out of me," _answered Naruto, _"and that hurt when the Kyuubi was alive. I don't want to have to endure it now that I am the Kyuubi."_

_ "We're here Naruto," _said Sakura.

"Good," said Naruto out loud.

"What?" said one of the underlings.

Instead of answering Naruto head butted the underling that was holding him and tripped another one who tried to rush him. He thrust his fists into the third man's stomach making him fall down gasping for breath. Naruto pulled his arms apart with a little bit of chakra so that the chain linking his hands together broke just as an alarm began to go off. Naruto assumed that the alarm was from his teammates breaking in, but he couldn't take the chance of any delay. He blocked a punch to his face and took a kunai that was aimed for his stomach only to force it into the third underling's shoulder. Without letting them attack again Naruto moved forward, and using their pressure points, paralyzed them in their place. Searching through their pockets, Naruto found the key to the cages that held his new friends

He turned quickly to the metal bars that led to Kyusuke. He could see yellow eyes staring at him while he undid the lock that held the cage closed. "It's good that you decided to help us out," he said as he unlocked the handcuffs, "but I do want to remind you that Kyusuke is much smaller than you and if you do the stuff that you would normally do it could perminately damage him."

"I would never hurt him," said Yonbi.

"Good." They both quickly moved across the hall to let Irena out only to find that she was also controlled by her spirit.

As soon as they left their cell Naruto sensed several people coming towards them so he turned to Yonbi and said, "Go that way." He pointed to their right. "My team will meet you there. When you see them say that Namikaze sent you and they'll know that it's me."

"What about you?" asked Sanbi.

"We need a distraction," said Naruto, "and I'm really good at being a distraction."

"I'll stay with you," said Yonbi.

"I already told you not to stress Kyusuke's body," said Naruto, "and you need to stay with Sanbi. Both of your bodies are weak from being stuck here for however long you've been stuck here." He could tell they were about to protest so he said, "That is an order."

They gave one last look at him before turning away just as the large group of Akatsuki turned the corner. Naruto crouch down and reached for the kunai that he took only to realize that he left it in one of the paralyzed men's shoulder. The only weapon he had at the moment was the key since he left his sword with Sasuke. He just shrugged as the men came running towards him. Using the key he jabbed the first man in the throat so that he couldn't breathe. Then he pulled another man forward and elbowed him in the back of the neck so he was knocked out. He continued doing this with 30 men until a kunai that he hadn't seen through the many bodies hit him in the chest just below the heart. Even with the injury he kept fighting until another kunai hit him on his shoulder. Then another kunai hit his thigh. The next thing he knew he was on the ground with several Akatsuki holding him down.

He struggled even as his wounds kept bleeding, but the more he struggled the more people would hold him down. He was quickly getting dizzy and his only hope now was for his teammates to come and save him.

* * *

another cliff hanger. woohoo


	28. Chapter 28

Sasuke looked at the Akatsuki's hide out worriedly when they arrived. He had to go in there and save Naruto. He had to go now.

"You can't go in there," said Sakura. She knew what he was thinking just by reading his body movements, which was rare because Sasuke was very good at hiding his thoughts and feelings.

"I have to," said Sasuke still staring at the entrance.

"You have to stick to our plan and that's not part of the plan," Sakura said.

"He's in trouble," Sasuke pleaded.

"You'll only put him in danger by going in their. We have to wait for Naruto to call us in."

"What if he can't?"

"You know very well Naruto knows when it is necessary to call us and no one can stop him from doing something that he decides that he needs to do."

"But what if it's too late?"

"Sasuke," Sakura scolded, "you have to trust him."

Sasuke waited impatiently for a moment longer, shifting from one foot to the other as he watched the entrance, until he couldn't wait any longer. Without telling Sakura he rushed the entrance and was inside before she could stop him.

"Sasuke!" she called out. "Darn him. Leave it to him to be irrational at the one time that he has to be rational. Kakashi-sensei," she said over the radio to their sensei who was on the other side of the hideout.

_"What is it?"_ he asked.

"Sasuke's gone in," she said.

_"What?" _Kakashi practically yelled. _"I told you guys to wait for my order."_

"Well apparently Sasuke wants to be a hero."

_"Fine," _sighed Kakashi, _"Wait there. I'll come to you and then we can go in after him."_

"Sorry Kakashi-sensei," said Sakura as she started running towards the hide out, "but I'm not just going to sit her while my friends are in there fighting by themselves."

_"Sakura don't!" _was all Kakashi could get out before the thick outer layers of the hideout blocked their radio connection.

* * *

Sasuke was sprinting down the hallway when he tripped on a small metal wire that he had not seen. "Damnit!" he yelled as the alarms went off all around him. He had to get to Naruto right away. He wouldn't allow anything to happen to him. Each person he passed by he would take down with one slash of his long katana and then move on. Any who didn't die with his first shot he just left behind so that Sakura could take care of them.

Finally, he felt Naruto's aura in his range of senses that he had widened for that one purpose, but he also felt two more very powerful people coming towards him. He readied himself to fight them as they approached him. He turned the corner to be faced with a young woman and a small child. Sasuke hesitated for a moment when he saw them because he thought that the Akatsuki only recruited strong men and women, not children. His hesitating moment gave the other two enough time to ready themselves for his attack so that when he thrust the sword at the woman the young child was able to knock it away with just his hand. He didn't have the time to fight these two. He needed to get to Naruto.

The child picked up the large sword and held it as though he had been a swordsmaster for many years longer then he had lived, and yet he held the sword in a way that suggested the use of a much larger body. "Wait!" gasped the woman in a chirping tone as the child readied itself to fight Sasuke.

"What?" said the child as he held the sword awkwardly in front of him.

"He has a Konoha head band," she chirped.

"I don't have time for this!" yelled Sasuke, "Let me pass or I will kill you."

"We won't let you through," said the child.

"No," whispered the woman, "Let him through."

The child looked at her carefully before finally sighing and saying, "Fine," while he flipped the sword so that the handle faced towards Sasuke.

Sasuke took the sword back and quickly ran past the two without even stopping to thank him. However, his curiosity did prompt him to look back once so that they could see the faces of the people who were different from all the other Akatsuki.

* * *

The only thing Naruto could feel now was the weight of many people holding him down. He could no longer feel his wounds as his body had become numb and his mind had become dizzy.

"You idiots!" he heard someone yell. "Don't kill him. We need him alive to get the Kyuubi."

He felt the men loosen their grip on him and so he took his chance and let out a large burst of chakra. Everyone on top of him flew into the air and he was able to jump to his feet. "You will never get ahold of Kyuubi. I will never do as you tell me to do. And I will not destroy and villages with children no matter how much you torture me," he said as he eyes grew into slits and his chakra encompassed his body. The chakra was white and anyone near by him could feel it's heat burn their skin as though it was a fire flicking at them. There was a moment of silence and then Naruto slowly moved his arm forward making the chakra fly towards one of the men before him. He continued to move his body faster and faster killing more and more people with his burning chakra. No one could even get near him to try to stop him and his white fire, but they could throw kunai at him. They threw any weapon they could find at him, but only a very few of them were able to actually hit him. Those that did burned his skin so that he would not bleed.

Even with all the wounds that he was sustaining he still kept fighting until there was only a few people left to face him, but then he was stopped when one of the kunai finally pierced his chest where his heart was. His heart stopped beating for a moment so he could not move for a short second, but that was all the time one of the men needed to take out their sword and thrust it straight into Naruto's stomach making him cough up blood. He couldn't breathe and he couldn't move except to look up at the smirking man that held the sword as he fell to his knees.

* * *

i've decided that writer's block sucks. sorry it took so long to write, but here's the next chapter


	29. Chapter 29

Sasuke finally made it to Naruto only to see a kunai thrown at the boy's chest. He saw as Naruto stopped for a slow second and a man thrust a sword into his stomach making him cough up blood. He screamed and began to run at the man in order to kill him, but he had to retreat back when Naruto's body let out one last burst of scorching white chakra and killed the few men that were left. Burning their bodies until they were unrecognizable. Then Naruto just fell to the ground gasping for each painful breath.

"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled as he ran to him. He dropped his sword next to Naruto's head and pulled the offending sword out even as it burned his hand with the heat that still remained from Naruto's chakra. "Naruto," he said as he tried to put pressure on the wound that was bleeding profusely, "you need to start healing yourself. This wound is to deep for me to heal."

Naruto's eyes opened slightly and he shook his head. He didn't have enough chakra to heal himself without allowing his heart to stop once more. He was even having problems staying awake.

Sasuke gasped when he saw Naruto's answer. Naruto rarely ever ran out of chakra and when he did it always happened when he was seriously injured. "Hold on," he said. "Sakura will be here soon and she can heal you."

"We need to go now Sasuke," was Naruto's ragged reply.

Sasuke bit his lip, but nodded his head anyway. He quickly reached into his weapon's case to find that his bandages weren't in their. "Damnit," he whispered, "where are my bandages?"

Naruto pushed Sasuke's hand off of his stomach and began to stand up.

"What are you doing?" said Sasuke as he stood and put his sword into his sheath, but he didn't try to force Naruto to sit back down because he knew that if he tried then it would only worsen all of Naruto's wounds.

"We have to go now Sasuke," replied Naruto.

"We have to bandage your wounds first. You can't walk around like this."

"We don't have time."

Sasuke knew he couldn't argue with Naruto so instead he decided that he would carry Naruto. He quickly pulled Naruto to his chest and picked him up bridal style. Naruto flailed only for a second because Sasuke shocked him, but then he just reached into Sasuke's weapon's pouch and pulled out as many kunai's as he could hold in one hand. He used his other hand to place as much pressure as he could while hanging in midair on his wound.

* * *

Sakura was having a lot of trouble trying to chase after Sasuke. She kept having to stop to kill anyone that he had left behind and now she was standing face to face with a small child and a woman. She lowered herself into a defensive position as she watched the two cautiously. They didn't seem to want to attack her, but she wanted to be ready anyway.

"Are you from Konoha as well?" asked the woman.

"Yes," Sakura said carefully.

"Kyuubi-sama told us to tell you that Namikaze sent us," she said.

Sakura lowered her weapon slowly. "Who are you?"

"My name is Sanbi," said the woman, "and this is Yonbi."

"You are spirits?"

"Yes, but our hosts are only human."

"I see," Sakura nodded. That's when she saw a room just in front of her that the door was left open because Sasuke had cut down the person that was trying to open it. Inside she saw the scroll that they had come here to get. The scroll that had all of Konoha's defenses in it and that could mean the life or death of their village. She slowly crept into the room and the two spirits followed her curiously. There was no one inside the room so she quickly rushed in and grabbed the scroll only to run out of the room with kunai flying at her because of the trap that had been set. She was only scratched by one kunai on the shoulder, but she knew that it could be fatal because she remembered that when Naruto had come back from this mission he had been sick for weeks which meant that their was probably a really powerful poison placed upon each kunai. She placed the scroll in her weapons pouch and pulled out her own kunai only to thrust it into the wound to allow the poison to bleed out. When she believed the poison was completely gone she began to heal it.

"Sakura!"

Her head shot up when she heard Sasuke yell her name. He was running towards them with Naruto bleeding in his arms. "What happened to him?" she asked as she reached out to heal him when Sasuke reached them.

"We have to go now Sakura," said Naruto as he pushed her hands away.

"Let me heal you first," she said.

"We don't have time," he said. "In a few moments this whole place is going to collapse." As if to prove him right their was a loud sound of something exploding within the hide out. They didn't waste another minute before they ran out of the hide out to find Kakashi getting ready to rush in after them. Together they all ran away from the layer and into the forest.

* * *

They ran for about an hour before they finally felt safe enough to stop. Sasuke placed Naruto, who was now unconcious, on the ground so that Sakura could heal him. She had to remove the bandages that Naruto had sloppily placed around his waist while they were running in order to heal the wound, but still she worked quickly.

"What were you thinking!" Kakashi yelled at Sasuke. "You threw the whole mission into danger! Not to mention all of your teammates and yourself! I expected more from you." Then he turned to Sakura, "And you, I told you not to go in and still you disobey me. I don't care how strong the both of you are. If you keep making stupid moves like this you will kill this whole team."

"Now, now," said a voice in the trees, "There is no need to be so hard on them."

Everyone pulled out their kunais and faced where the voice was only to see that Itachi was coming towards. "What are you doing here?" asked Sasuke as both he and Sakura put their kunais away. The other three stared at them as though they were crazy.

"Naruto apparently convinced the Hokage that it was necessary for me to come back now instead of later on," he answered as he pulled the scroll that he had taken from Naruto in the beginning of the mission out of his weapon's pouch and threw it at Sasuke for him to catch. Sasuke opened it, read through it and then handed it over to Kakashi so that he could read it. The two spirits cautiously put their weapons back into their weapons pouches. "And I brought Naruto's sword with me. I figured he would probably want it back," he said as he unfastened the weapon from his and gave it to Sasuke as well.

"I see," Sasuke said, "Well it's good to have you back then nii-san."

Itachi nodded. "I see you also got the spirits to come with you," he said.

"Aparently Naruto found them," said Sakura as she finished healing Naruto and stood up from her place. "This is Sanbi," she said pointing to the woman, "and this is Yonbi," she pointed towards the boy."

"Yes," said Itachi. "I heard that the Akatsuki went through a lot of trouble trying to get you buys. A rich woman with many guards and a cave dwelling child that knows how to hide in the shadows if I remember correctly."

"Why is a member of the Akatsuki here?" asked Yonbi.

"He was our spy," said Sasuke. "He was gathering information for us and now we've called him back. Well, Naruto called him back."

"So then you are a friend of Kyuubi-sama's?" asked Sanbi.

"I guess you could say that," said Itachi even though he didn't quite understand what the woman was saying.

"Then I assume we can trust you," said Sanbi, "but know that if you do anything to hurt us we can and will kill you." Her eyes faded from silver to back to blue as Yonbi's also changed from yellow to green.

"Ah," said Itachi. "You must be the jinchuuriki. Irena and Kuyusuke if I'm not mistaken."

"That's correct," said Irena while Kuyusuke hid behind her.

"It is very nice to meet the both of you."

* * *

I'm making up for not righting in a while so i wrote the next chapter and here it is


	30. Chapter 30

On their way back to Konoha Naruto woke up, but he had lost far too much blood for him to be able to walk without loosing conciousness so he remained on Sasuke's back. Little Kuyusuke walked next to Sasuke asking Naruto several questions like "What is it like in Konoha?" and "Will there be kids I can play with?" Naruto had answered each question with a small smile and even told the child a few things about Konoha that he had not asked about.

"Where will we stay?" asked Irena. "We aren't going to stay in a hotel are we?"

Naruto laughed. "No, you'll be staying with me at my place."

"Really?" asked the child excitedly.

"Yea. My father was a very wealthy man and he left a mansion for me to live in that is way too big for just me to live," said Naruto. "Some of my other friends live their too. Haku and Zabuza. Haku's really nice and Zabuza isn't bad once you get to know him, but he is kind of scary looking so don't freak out when you meet him."

"I won't freak out," said Kuyusuke, "Nothing can scare me."

Naruto's only answer was to laugh amusedly.

"We should stop here for tonight," said Kakashi. "It's getting dark and god knows we all need our rest. We'll be back home tomorrow."

Sasuke allowed Naruto to climb off his back and then left to gather firewood without even looking back at him. Naruto frowned. Sasuke had been upset throughout their whole journey back and he could not figure out why. Maybe it was because he was too weak to defend himself and had broken his promise about the fact that he would be fine during this mission.

"What's wrong Naruto-nii-san?" asked Kuyusuke as he sat down next to him.

"Nothing's wrong," Naruto answered with a smile. "I'm still just a little dizzy is all."

"You know when I get dizzy dad tells me that I need to eat something or drink some water."

"Well then when the dinner is ready I will make sure to eat some."

"Good," said Kuyusuke. "I'll go tell them to hurry up so that you can get better faster." He ran off to talk to Irena while Naruto laughed at his innocence. He couldn't remember a time when he had ever been that innocent. From the very first moments of his life he had already been exposed to the cruel reality that plagued the world. He would never have a beautiful mind like that of Irena and Kuyusuke.

At that moment Sasuke walked back into camp and began to start up the fire in front of Naruto so he wouldn't have to move. Still, Sasuke would not look at Naruto even though he sat just in front of him. "I'm sorry," Naruto said finally breaking the silence between them when the fire was done.

Sasuke's head shot up to look at him with wide eyes. "Why?" he asked.

"Because I broke my promise," said Naruto, "I didn't take care of myself like I said I would. That's why you're upset with me isn't it?"

"No!" gasped Sasuke, "I'm not mad at you. There was nothing you could have done. There was way to many people for you to be able to fight on your own. Most people would have died. You did nothing wrong."

"Then," said Naruto a little confused, "Why have you been avoiding me?"

Sasuke sighed and placed his hand against his forhead as though he had a headache. "I'm mad at myself Naruto," he said.

"Why?"

"Because it's my fault you got hurt. I didn't listen to orders and I wasn't paying attention so I tripped the alarm. If I had just stayed outside like I was supposed to, you wouldn't have gotten hurt."

"That's not true," said Naruto quickly as he grabbed Sasuke's hand away from his face and made him look at him with a hand on his chin, "If you hadn't come when you did I would have died, and if you didn't trip the alarm I would have tripped it when I went to get the scroll. You saved me Sasuke. That is nothing to be upset about."

Sasuke stared into the serene eyes that stared right back at him. He wanted so much to kiss the man. All he would have to do is to lean gorward a couple of inches and then their lips would meet, but he knew that no matter how much he wanted to kiss the boy, he could not.

"Naruto-nii-san!" yelled Kuyusuke from across the camp where they had set up a small fire to cook while they waited for Sasuke to make the camp fire. "The food's ready."

Naruto waved at the child and said, "I'll come and get some now."

Before he could even try to stand up Sasuke placed his hand on his shoulder and said, "Stay here. I'll go get some food for you."

"Thank you," Naruto said with a smile. Sasuke turned away quickly trying to hide his face from Naruto so that he wouldn't be able to tell that Sasuke felt disappointed that they didn't get to kiss.

When they all had food they sat around the fire and ate in relative silence that was only broken by Kuyusuke talking to Naruto. Then they all split up to sleep in the three tents that team 7 had brought with them. Sakura and Irena took one camp, Itachi and Kakashi took the second, and Sasuke, Naruto, and Kuyusuke took the last one. Kakashi had decided that their was no need for a look out because they were so close to Konoha so they were all able to sleep throughout the nigh. It wasn't long before they had all fallen asleep from their exhausting day.

* * *

When they got to Konoha the next day Sasuke walked Naruto to his house, said hello to Haku and Zabuza, who Kuyusuke was afraid of as soon as he saw him, and then left to get to his own home as fast as he could. He was glad that he didn't have to deal with any of the people greeting them when they returned because their mission had been top secret.

"Hey sweetie," said his mother when he walked in the door. "How was your mission?"

"It was fine mom," he said quietly.

"Are you okay sweetie?"

"I'm fine. I'm just a little tired is all," he answered. "I'm going to go to bed for a while."

"Alright sweetie," said his mother as she watched him go to his room with worried eyes. Then she saw Itachi walk into the room and she was so happy to have her eldest son back that she almost forgot her worry for Sasuke. Almost. In the back of her mind she wanted to go and console him, but she knew that he was just going to ask her to leave even if she tried.

Sasuke collapsed into his bed as soon as he reached his room. He could hear his family talking excitedly about Itachi's return and he was glad that they had that distraction because he knew that if they didn't he would have to deal with his mother constantly coming in to check on him. Not that he didn't love his mother and the fact that she cared for him. It's just that he really wanted some time alone to think things over. And the only thing he wanted to think about was the blonde haired blue eyed love of his life.

When he closed his eyes he could see Naruto's face so close to his that he wanted to reach out and kiss the beautiful lips once more. Then he opened his eyes to see that he was in his room. He regretted not kissing Naruto when he had the chance, but he had two very good reasons. The first was that he knew that Naruto would never love him and the second... Well he didn't want to think of that reason.

He turned on his stomach and buried his face in the large pillow. Maybe he should tell Naruto how he feels. Maybe Naruto would feel the same way about him and actually want to stay with him. But then what would happen when... No, he couldn't think of that. He had to decide if he would confess to Naruto without thinking of that.

* * *

Naruto collapsed face first onto his bed when he finally escaped from everyone else. He had had to show everyone around the city and then take them to the Hokage to get them situated as a Konoha resident where he got yelled at for not asking about bringing them in beforehand. Then he had to take Kuyusuke to meet Konohamaru, which normally he would have been happy to do, but he was just so tired. After about an hour of sitting and watching them play and trying hard not to fall asleep, Irena suggested that he go home and rest and she would watch the children. He thanked them and then practically ran home so that he wouldn't have to do anything else.

After a few moments of just lying in his bed he turned onto his back and placed his arm over his eyes to block out the sun that was still out. He wanted so badly to be able to sleep, but thoughts of Sasuke plagued him. He couldn't believe that he actually was so close to Sasuke. That he was able to touch Sasuke's face without the man pulling away from him. He sighed. That was the best moment ever. To be able to come so close to the man he loved. But he also knew that that would be the closest he would ever be able to get to Sasuke. Even if he had the courage to tell Sasuke about his feelings he would never do it because he knew it was impossible for them to be together.

* * *

i think this is a new record for me to have 3 chapters in one day. i hope you like it


	31. Chapter 31

Sakura had woken up early in the morning so that she and the rest of team 7 could give their report on how the mission went and so now she had nothing to do but walk around town and think about Sasuke and Naruto. She had noticed how through out the whole time that they were there both Naruto and Sasuke seemed really distracted. They had to be asked questions several times and when they finally did answer it was with only one or two words. This wouldn't have shocked her if it had been the old Sasuke, but now both of them made a point to answer the questions as well as they could except for this day. However, that isn't what shocked her the most. What shocked her the most was that neither of them even attempted to glance at the other as they usually did unconciously. She hoped they didn't get into another fight. That would ruin all the progress they had been making lately. Oh yea, she had seen how close they got to kissing during the mission, but then Kuyusuke had to go and mess it all up by calling out to Naruto.

She sighed. If only they would just confess to eachother then everything would be much better. She sighed once more.

"What's wrong Sakura?" asked Ino from beside her.

Sakura jumped. She hadn't even noticed the girl approach her. "It's nothing Ino," she said. Ino was still as beautiful as ever. That thought made Sakura realize that she didn't really talk to Ino much anymore. Now that they no longer had a guy to fight over, which Sakura was very happy about, they really only talked when they passed by eachother, which Sakura was unhappy about.

"Two sighs in a row usually doesn't mean that it's nothing," said Ino.

"It's just some problems with Sasuke and Naruto," Sakura conceded. She liked talking to Ino, but it was just so hard to be near her when they weren't together.

"Did they have another fight?" asked Ino remmebering one of the rather horrible fights that they had had when they were all still in school about Sasuke breaking a guy's leg in three different places for tripping Naruto. She couldn't even remember what they had said, but what she did remember was that after that Naruto had disappeared for a whole day and then for days they wouldn't even talk to eachother.

"I don't think so," answered Sakura, "There just acting weird."

"Ah so it's love troubles then," Ino smiled. "They should just confess to eachother and then maybe things won't be so weird between them."

"I know right!" Sakura exclaimed. Then she realized that those words didn't only apply to Sasuke and Naruto. They also applied to Ino and herself. All this time she had been waiting for Ino to confess to her like she did last time, but Ino didn't confess until years from now and she missed being with her. Maybe this time she should be the one to confess to Ino. If only she could just pluck up the courage to.

"You know," Ino said, breaking her train of thought, "We haven't hung out in a while. Maybe we should go do something now. It'll take your mind off of your teammates for a while."

"You know what?" said Sakura, "I think that's a great idea. God knows I've done nothing but worry about them lately. What should we do?"

"We could go shopping," said Ino. "Nothing's better to distract a girl than a whole bunch of random stuff with price tags on them."

"That sounds great," said Sakura. "I just have to go home and get my wallet."

"Me too," said Ino. "How about I'll meet you there in about an hour."

"Alright. I'll see you there." The two of them departed ways.

* * *

Sakura stared at her closet filled with pinks. She had been wearing her normal uniform up until this point, but she wanted to change into something that would look nice for Ino. She didn't want to look to nice, I mean they were just going to the shopping center, but she wanted to be able to catch the eye.

After about 10 minutes of staring at her closet she finally pulled out a cute little pink dress that had a beautiful black pattern swirling all over it and poofed out at the bottom just above her knees. She looked at herself in the mirror. The dress looked good on its own, but if she tried to add heels to it it would become to fancy. So instead she put on a pair of black combat boots that stopped just above her ankles. Then she put on a black jacket that covered the shoulders that her spaghetti-strap dress didn't.

_'There,' _she thought to herself as she looked into the mirror once more, _'now I have an outfit that I can wear. But now what should I do with my hair?' _Her hair was to short for her to do anything that she thought of to do with it. As she was messing with her hair her favorite black hat caught her eye. "That's perfect!" she said out loud as she grabbed the berett and placed it on top of her head. For a moment she debated putting on make up, but then she decided that she only had enough time to get to the shopping center.

"I'm leaving now!" she yelled to her parents as she ran out the door with her wallet in hand.

She ran as quickly as she could, wanting to get there and see Ino as soon as possible, but when she neared the mall she began to doubt her idea to change. Ino was probably just going to remain in her normal clothes. The thought of going back and changing back into her old clothes then blaming her parents for delaying her crossed her mind, but as she got closer she saw Ino and realized that she had also changed. Ino was wear a sleeveless purple corset with a black crop top jacket and a black skirt that ended at her knees. She also wore a golden chain around her neck and black boots that reached to just below her knee.

"You look cute," said Ino when Sakura finally reached her.

"Thanks," said Sakura with a blush, "You also look very nice."

"Thank you," answered Ino. "You ready to go?"

"Yea."

* * *

They spent the whole rest of the day at the shopping center. Both of them got lovely clothes and both had been hit on by several of the guys. One guy was even bold enough to grope Ino's butt which got him two very strong hits to the head. Now they were eating dinner at one of the restaraunts nearby.

"So was our trip succesful?" asked Ino.

"What do you mean?" answered Sakura.

"Was our trip succesful in getting you mind off of your teammates?" said Ino.

"Oh yes!" gasped Sakura, "I totally forgot about that. I had so much fun hanging out with you."

"Oh no," laughed Ino. "I guess I shouldn't have brought it up then. Now you're going to be worrying about them again."

"Nah," said Sakura, "I think I'll wait to worry about them until tomorrow."

"You can't worry about them tomorrow," said Ino. "That's when the festival is."

"Festival?" asked Sakura.

"Oh yea. I forgot that you were on a mission when they made the announcement. They're going to be having a festival to welcome all the people that have come to watch or participate in the chunin exams."

"I never heard of that."

"I guess that means you don't have anyone to go with." Sakura shook her head. "Do you want to go with me?"

"Sure!" Sakura almost yelled in her excitement, but then she checked herself and said, "I would love to go with you."

"Cool," said Ino, "I'll come pick you up at 7 then."

"Alright," said Sakura. They waved to eachother and once more parted ways.

* * *

Sakura ran straight to Naruto's house from the shopping center. She was going to tell him everything about her not-date with Ino and about the festival. She always went to Naruto when something like this happened because she knew that, even though he would try to understand, Sasuke could never get as excited about things like this as Naruto could. Besides, Naruto could help her decide what she would wear tomorrow.

She knocked on the door as soon as she got there. When nobody came she knocked once more a little more quickly. Then, when still nobody came she just opened the door and walked right in. She was getting annoyed of waiting outside when she wanted to talk to Naruto right then. Naruto left his home unlocked for moments like this anyway. He had more than once told her that she could just walk in without knocking, but she always knocked anyway just to be polite.

As she walked into the house she saw Haku coming towards her. "Is there something wrong?" he asked her.

"No," she said confusedly, "Why would you think that?"

"You were knocking on the door so frantically we thought that something must be the matter."

"No. I just really want to talk to Naruto is all."

"Oh," said Haku, "Well he's up in his library at the moment if you'd like to go see him. Or I could go get him if you'd like."

"No," said Sakura, "I'll go to him." She waved at Haku and then quickly ascended the stairs to reach the second story of his 3 story mansion. When she reached the the library she threw open the door and yelled out Naruto's name.

Naruto, who was curled up in a large chair in the corner reading one of his scrolls that he had been collecting over the years, quickly looked up at her thinking that there was something wrong.

"I got to go to the mall with Ino today!" she said excitedly.

Naruto put the scroll down onto the small table next to his chair. "How did it go?" he asked.

"Oh, it was so much fun. Ino even got me a new necklace," she said as she took off the pink butterfly necklace that she was now wearing across her neck.

Naruto crossed the room and took it from her. "It is very pretty," smiled Naruto as he looked back at her, "but I'm assuming that you weren't with her when she got it."

"No," answered Sakura, "She told me that she was going to go to the bathroom and then when she returned she had this. How do you know?"

"Because these," he answered as he pointed to the shining jewels that were placed carefully within the butterfly, "are real jewels."

"What?" gasped Sakura.

Naruto laughed. "Let's go to one of the sitting rooms so that we can be more comfortable while you tell me about your amazing day with the lovely Ino."

They walked down the hallway together with Sakura talking animatedly about her day. She didn't even pause when they reached the room and Naruto held the door open for her. Naruto listened to her with a huge smile and a couple of words placed artfully here and there to encourage her to keep talking without rudely interupting her. It was only after they had been sitting for a while that she finally came to a close by saying, "and she invited me to go to the festival tomorrow."

"Festival?" asked Naruto.

"Yea," said Sakura. "Apparently they decided to have one to welcome all the visitors."

"I wonder what changed their mind," said Naruto curiously. They had never had a festival for the chunin exams before this one.

"I don't know," said Sakura quickly before changing the subject back to herself, "but I'm so excited!"

"Well that's good," said Naruto. Sakura very rarely only spoke of herself so when she did he made sure not to distract her with anything else. "What are you going to wear?"

Suddenly Sakura's turned into one of worry. "Oh know," she gasped, "I don't have anything to wear and I spent all my money today."

"You know what?" said Naruto. "I think I might have the perfect thing. Come with me and I'll show you." They left the room and this time it was Naruto talking while Sakura followed him curiously. "As you know I never got the chance to explore all of this house before so the other day, before we went on the mission, I decided to look around some more. I found out that I actually have an attic." While saying this he reached up and opened up a small wooden door hidden in plain sight and pulled a latch within it. A stair case hidden in the roof fell down before them and he ushered her into the attic. "I found some of my family's old things up here." He pointed to a beautiful pink satin kimono that had silver butterflies stitched neatly onto the cloth.

"It's beautiful," gasped Sakura, "Who's is it."

"I think it belonged to my grandmother on my father's side," said Naruto. "I think it would look beautiful on you, and you could even wear your new necklace with it."

"Oh thank you!" Sakura said excitedly giving him a large hug. "Now what am I going to do with my hair."

"If you don't mind," said Naruto, "I would love to do your hair for you."

"You are the bestest friend a girl could ever have," she said. "Who are you going to the festival with."

"Oh," answered Naruto, "I'll probably just hang out. Maybe Sasuke will be willing to hang out with me."

"I'm sure he will be happy to spend his time with you Naruto."

* * *

So i realized that i had only really been right about Naruto and Sasuke so I though i would put a chapter about Sakura in here and what better way then to have her with the woman she loves. i hope you like it


	32. Chapter 32

Sakura could barely sit still as she watched Naruto do her hair in the mirror that she usually did her make up. She was already wearing the beautiful kimono that Naruto had let her borrow and she was so excited that she just wanted to run around the room, but every time she moved to much Naruto would threaten her by saying, "If you keep moving like this your hair will look horrible and I won't have the time to fix it before Ino comes," so she remained as still as she could. He had put a french braid on both sides that connected in the back and then he had curled her hair and now he was putting hairspray in it to keep it in place.

"Thank you so much Naruto!" she exclaimed when he was done. "Now I just have to put on make up and I'll be already to go."

"You might want to hurry," said Naruto. "You only have fifteen minutes before she comes to pick you up."

Just then someone knocked on the door. "I wonder who that is?" said Sakura. "Will you get it for me Naruto? My parents have already left for the festival."

Naruto walked down the stairs quickly with a smirk on his face. He knew exactly who it was before he even opened the door. "You're early Ino," he said loudly so that Sakura could hear him. Ino had a habit of being early and Sakura still hadn't realized that and was never ready when Ino came. "You look lovely." She was wearing a purpple kimono and her hair was curled and pinned to the side of her head with two black sticks sticking out of it with purple beads hanging from the ends.

"Thanks," she said awkwardly. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm not staying," he said. "Sakura asked me to help her get ready is all."

"Oh," Ino seemed to perk back up.

"Yea," said Naruto, "I wouldn't want to ruin your date."

Ino blushed, but before she could say anything Sakura came down from her room. She looked beautiful, and the little make up that she added made her eyes sparkle without losing them amongst to much.

"Wow!" said Ino. "You look amazing!"

"Thank you," said Sakura with a blush. "So do you."

After a moment of silent staring Ino offered her hand to Sakura to help her down the last few stairs as she said. "Shall we go?

"Oh yes," said Sakura as she took Ino's hand. She didn't need the help of course, but she was just happy that she was able to take the woman's hand once more. Ino didn't let go when she was on the ground, nor when they were walking out the door.

_"Have fun on your date," _Naruto said in her head, which made her blush even more.

_"I will," _she answered, _"Thank you Naruto. I'll make sure not to get your grandmothers dress dirty."_

_ "I appreciate that," _said Naruto as he waved goodby to the two. When they were no longer in sight he closed the door and went back up to Sakura's room. One of the downsides of Ino coming early all the time was that Sakura never got to clean up the mess that she made while getting ready. He shrugged. He knew where everything went, having cleaned up after Sakura each time he helped her get ready, which was almost every time, so he would just put everything away once more. This time there wasn't as much of a mess because usually Sakura would go through several outfits before she found the one she wanted and then throw the other ones wherever was convenient, but this time she had already set aside her outfit beforehand.

Naruto was putting away the last of the hair products when he heard a knock on the door. "Strange," he said to himself as he walked down to get it. "I wonder who it is." When he opened the door he was surprised to see Sasuke was standing in front of him wearing a plain grey yukata. "What are you doing here?"

"I went to your house to see if you wanted to go with me to the festival," said Sasuke, "but Haku said you were at Sakura's so I came here. Why are you here?"

"I was helping Sakura get ready for her date," said Naruto

"Ino asked her out?" asked Sasuke.

"Well yes and no," answered Naruto. "She really just asked if Sakura would go with her to the festival, but, since they both love eachother, I'm counting it as a date."

"I see," Sasuke nodded. "So do you want to go the festival with me?"

"Yea," said Naruto, "I was planning on hanging out with you anyway, but I just figured that I would see you there. If you just wait in the living room I'll go change into my yukata."

* * *

Ino and Sakura sat on one of the benches a little farther away from the festivities eating a little snack. They had been bumping into everyone that they had passed by while they were walking around, and, while they did have fun exploring all the differnet stands, they just wanted to be alone for a little while.

"Are you having fun?" asked Ino.

"Of course," said Sakura. "This was one of the best days of my life."

"Well I'm glad," said Ino.

"Hey ladies," called two men who staggered close to them from the direction of the festival holding cups filled with beer. They were obviously drunk. Ino sneered at them when they arrived in front of them. "What are you doing here all alone?"

"Does it look like we're alone?" asked Ino.

"Oh of course you aren't," said the man. "Now that we're here you aren't alone anymore."

"So why don't you two come with us and enjoy the festival?" said the other man.

"Why would we want to go with you drunk idiots?" said Sakura.

"What did you say to me?" growled the man.

"I said that you are a drunk idiot," replied Sakura.

"How dare you!" he yelled as he threw his drink at Sakura.

Sakura gasped as she tried to shield herself. She almost wanted to cry when she realized that the drink would ruin Naruto's grandmother's dress, but she never felt the drink touch her. When she looked up she saw Ino in front of her with the alchoholic drink all down the front of her kimono. "I think it's time for you to leave," she hissed at the men.

"Oh and you're going to make us," laughed the men.

"Fine," hissed Ino, "You can stay right here." As she said those words she lifted her foot and landed a well aimed kick at his crotch. "Sakura and I will just go." She grabbed Sakura and pulled her towards her own house.

* * *

Sasuke walked with Naruto by his side dressed in a sky blue dress with a golden design stretching all around it's body. They were walking so closely that Sasuke's arm would often rub against Naruto's, but he wouldn't move away from him because he knew that people were cruel and Naruto couldn't get away because of the large crowd. The only time he left Naruto's side was when he asked for him to go get some food since they both knew that if Naruto tried the food wouldn't be edible.

"Look at this stuffie Sasuke," said Naruto as he dragged him over to a stand that everyone was avoiding. There was a large cute fox placed in front of the stand that was obviously meant to attract several people.

"You'll be the first to take interest in it," said the owner of the stand.

"You aren't from around here are you?" asked Sasuke.

"No," said the owner, "I am a travelling salesman that sets up at whatever festival is nearby. I was lucky enough to come here just in time for this one."

"Well just to let you know," said Sasuke, "people around here don't really like foxes."

"Really?" asked the owner. "No wonder nobody's been coming to my stand. Usually this fox is the one that gets the most customers. I guess if its sending all my customers away I should probably get rid of it. Would you like to try for it?"

"Sure," said Sasuke pulling out some money to pay. Naruto stood anxiously awaiting Sasuke winning that stuffie. He couldn't try himself because every time he tried to participate in these things in the past people would either send him away or rig it so that there was no possible way for him to win. It wasn't until later in the future that they began to let him join in, but still he feared them tricking him so he allowed Sasuke to play the games for him.

"What about you?" the man asked as he looked directly at Naruto.

"Me?" asked Naruto.

"Yea. Don't you want to try? It's really easy. You ony have to get three rings around the marked bottles on the table covered with bottles. I'll give you five. If you get three or more you can have the fox."

"Go ahead Naruto," said Sasuke. "I don't really feel like playing."

"Okay," said Naruto as he took the rings with an unsure hand. He carefully threw the first and second one, which both hit their target, and then missed the third and fourth one. He threw the last one hoping that it would hit the mark like the other ones had. The edge of the ring hit an unmarked bottle and slowly slipped over it.

"That's to bad," said the shopkeeper as he looked at Naruto disappointed eyes. He almost wanted to laugh. This teenager reminded him of the children that he had seen in other towns that had not won their prize. He had grown a resilliance to the disappointed look that he saw in children, he had to if he was going to continue in the line of business where not everyone wins without losing all his money, but something about this boy made him feel bad. He felt that the boy was different from so many of the other people he had faced. He was not like the children who would start balling, and he wasn't like the men his age who would curse and say that his game was rigged. And the man beside him looked angry, not at him or the game, but at the fact that the boy wasn't able to win. "But since I have to get rid of this little guy anyway," he said as he took the stuffed fox from its hook and handed it to Naruto, "I might as well give him to somebody who will love him."

"Thank you!" said Naruto with a huge smile as he hugged the fox close to his chest.

The stand owner smiled from the satisfaction of making this young boy happy even if it meant loosing some of his money. "You are welcome," he said happily.

"The fireworks are starting!" someone yelled from behind the two boys.

"Sasuke can we go see the fireworks?" asked Naruto.

"Of course," Sasuke answered.

"Bye mister," Naruto waved at the stand owner as they moved towards the hokage mountains. "Thanks for the fox." The man waved at their retreating back with a smile.

* * *

When they arrived at Ino's house they immidiately went to her room where Ino dug through her drawers and produced two pairs of pajamas. She handed one pair to Sakura and then began to take off her own kimono. Sakura would have loved to be happy seeing Ino undressed, but her distress that she had caused Ino to ruin her kimono was overtaking that feeling. "I'm sorry," she said.

"What for?" asked Ino as she pulled the kimono off.

"For getting your kimono ruined," answered Sakura.

Ino gave her a questioning look before saying, "Would you have rathered it have been the kimono that you are wearing?"

That caught Sakura. She couldn't answer no because she didn't want Ino to think that she didn't care about her but she also couldn't answer yes because she really didn't want to ruin this kimono. She knew that, even though Naruto didn't say anything about it and wouldn't have said anything if the kimono had been ruined, he would be distraught to have it come back to him even with the slightest stain on it.

"See," said Ino as she slipped on the tanktop that went with the pajama pants she was wearing. "That kimono is important to you. Much more important than mine is."

"It's not really important to me," answered Sakura. "It belonged to Naruto's grandmother's and he's letting me borrow it for the night so I promised him I wouldn't ruin it."

"Than it is way more important than my kimono."

"But it was my fault that they threw the drink at us."

"They were drunk and bound to do something like that wether we insulted them or not. Don't worry about it Sakura. My kimono has only been worn 2 or 3 times since I got it. I could probably find an exact replica of it somewhere in the stores, but things like that kimono mean much more and can't be replaced. My parents will understand."

"I'm still sorry," mumbled Sakura.

"Don't worry about it," laughed Ino. "Why don't you just change into the pajamas." Then she hesitated for a moment. "That is if you want to stay the night. If not I'll just find an outfit that you can change into so that you can head home."

"I'll stay here," said Sakura, "If you don't mind."

"Of course I don't mind," said Ino. "If I minded I wouldn't have asked you to stay."

"True," laughed Sakura as she to changed into the pajamas and Ino went down to go make something for them to eat since they hadn't gotten a chance to at the festival.

When she was done she went to meet Ino downstairs. Ino handed her a bowl of ramen. "I hope you don't mind," she said. "It was the quickest thing I could make. I'll make some hot chocolate for us later."

"It's fine," said Sakura. "I ate something before we left anyway." They sat in silence for a few minutes while they ate. As Ino cleaned the dishes to put them Sakura took a deep breath. Now was the perfect time to tell Ino. The only thing she had to do was pluck up the courage and just say it. When Ino had confessed to her she had made it look so easy but now she knew how hard it really was to confess. Now she couldn't say that Sasuke was being a chicken for not confessing to Naruto. Even she was having a hard time confessing to Ino and she knew that Ino loved her. Naruto and Sasuke were totally oblivious to eachothers feelings and she couldn't just tell them that "Ino," she said in a quiet voice, "can I tell you something?"

"Of course," said Ino as she put the first bowl away.

Sakura took a deep breath, determined to keep her courage until the words were spoken. "I love you," she said a little louder.

Ino spun around in shock so fast that the second bowl slipped from her grasp and fell to the ground. There was a loud crashing sound as Sakura's heart stopped. Questions began to run through her head as she began to doubt herself. What if she had told her to soon? What is she had freaked out the girl? What if now the woman would avoid seeing her for a long time? What if, because they had gone back in time and started a new time line, Ino didn't love her anymore? Sakura's heart sank farther and farther as these questions and more ran through her head. She felt like she wanted to cry. "I'm sorry," she said as she stood ready to run up the stairs so that she could change and leave. "I'll just go now."

"Wait!" gasped Ino as she grabbed Sakura's hand and pulled her close to her. "You can't leave."

"Why not?" asked Sakura.

"Because you haven't given me the chance to say I love you too," said Ino. She was happy to see Sakura's whole face light up. "Besides you said you would stay the night." With that she leaned over just so slightly so that her lips could meet with Sakura's in a tender kiss. Sakura was ectsatic to be able to kiss her love once again.

* * *

Sasuke watched as Naruto rushed ahead of him to reach the top of the mountain. This was the best place that they had found to watch fireworks. No one else came up here because it was far away from the explosions and they all went to times square, but that meant that no one knew how beautiful the sparkling lights were from so high up. He tensed when he realized that Naruto was right on the edge of the cliff jumping up and down.

"Be careful," Sasuke said. "You'll fall if you keep jumping like that."

"I won't fall," said Naruto.

"Well come sit down anyway. You can't enjoy the fireworks while your jumping around all over the place," said Sasuke as he sat on the grassy floor.

"Alright," said Naruto as he joined him, but instead of sitting he laid down right next to him.

The two of them sat in silence as they watched the fireworks explode. It was only after they were over Sasuke looked down to see that Naruto was actually sleeping. He reached down and swiped the hair out of his face so he could see the angelic face before him. "Naruto," said Sasuke. "I want to tell you something." He knew Naruto couldn't hear him and he also knew that Naruto was a completely deep sleeper unless he sensed danger. He had once believed that Naruto was lying about that, but then Naruto had told him that the animals could sense danger as it came near to them and that he had the senses of the Kyuubi. "I want to tell you that I love you and I always will. Even after we're dead I will still love you." He leaned forward and placed his lips upon Naruto's. The kiss was weird because Naruto wasn't reacting at all and because Sasuke was tense the whole time half expecting Naruto to wake up and be disgusted with him.

He smiled when the kiss was over and, with one last look at the peaceful face, he picked up Naruto and went to his house.

* * *

yay for the new chappie


	33. Chapter 33

Naruto awoke in the morning sleeping in Sasuke's bed to the sound of Sakura's voice in his head. _"Naruto," _she was saying excitedly.

_"What is it Sakura?" _he asked sleepily.

_"I confessed," _she practically squealed. _"I confessed and she said that she loves me to!"_

_ "That's great," _Naruto smiled.

"You're awake?" asked Sasuke from the door.

"Yea," yawned Naruto. "Sakura was just telling me that she and Ino got together.

"Oh yea," said Sasuke, "she told me to. She told me about two hours ago."

"What time is it?" asked Naruto.

"I was just coming to get you up because we have to leave for the 3rd test in about an hour."

"Oh," said Naruto. "I guess I should probably go home and get dressed then."

"No need," said Sasuke as he pointed to the folded clothes on the desk across from the bed. "I got you a change of clothes last night before I went to bed."

"You didn't have to do that," said Naruto. "I would have been fine going back."

"I know you would have," said Sasuke, "but I felt like doing it for you. I also made some breakfast."

"Mm," mumbled Naruto, "Thank you."

"I'll leave you alone so that you can get changed," said Sasuke before he left. "I'll be in the dining room if you need anything."

"Alright," said Naruto as he finally pulled the warm comforters off himself to reveal the pajamas that he was wearing. He blushed when he realized that Sasuke had changed his clothes. He didn't know why the thought made him blush since they had both seen the other with nothing but underwear on, but it still made him blush. He shook the thought from his head and quickly changed into his normal fighting outfit.

He quietly walked downstairs and into the large dining room to find Sasuke sitting at the table with two plates of scrambled eggs with toast and a couple of jars of different flavors of jelly. "Good morning," said Naruto when he sat down across from Sasuke.

"Awake now?" asked Sasuke.

"Yep," said Naruto. "Are we going to stop and pick up Sakura on the way over there?"

"No," said Sasuke, "I already told her that we would meet her there. I figured she would want to walk with her girlfriend."

"I'm happy for her," said Naruto. "That she finally gets to be with the person she loves."

"You said that last time they got together," laughed Sasuke.

"It's just as true now as it was then," said Naruto. "There is no greater happiness than the happiness gained from being with one's true love."

Sasuke smiled. He knew that was true first hand since he was already almost always with his true love. Sometimes he wondered if he could be happier if he confessed to Naruto and Naruto loved him back, but then that thought would always be replaced by the thought that if Naruto denied his love then he would lose all traces of his happiness and he would never allow that to happen. "We should go," he said in order to get his mind off of those grim thoughts.

"Oh yea," said Naruto as he looked over ot the clock on the oven. "I didn't even realize that it was so late." The two of them stood and placed their dishes in the sink before quickly exiting the house and heading towards the large arena that the third piece of the exam would take place at.

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke arrived only to realize that they were the last ones there. Everyone else had already arrived and were standing and waiting for the matches to begin. The two of them moved to stand in line with Naruto next to Gaara and Sasuke on the other side of Naruto.

"Good everyone's here," said the propter. "Now stand tall and present yourselves to the audience."

Naruto looked around at the audience and frowned. He hadn't remembered all these people being here before and the vast majority of them would make it hard for the other ninjas to protect them. He didn't know what happened last time at this part of the exam because he had been chasing after Sasuke, but he hoped that no one would get hurt.

Suddenly Naruto heard growling from his right side. He looked over to find Gaara looking up at where the kage's stood. Following Gaara's line of sight he saw the Kazekage taking his seat. He grabbed Gaara's hand in a comforting manner making Gaara look at him confusedly and smiled kindly. He only wanted to calm Gaara down. He didn't want Gaara to attack the Kazekage since that was actually Orochimaru and the real Kazekage was truly dead.

He released Gaara's hand as the Hokage announced the start of the test. "Alright everyone," said the propter. "Same rules as last time. Just try not to kill eachother this time." Then he turned to the audience and yelled at the top of his lungs, "The first match will be between Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuuga. The rest of the students will move upstairs so that they will not be in the way. The others retreated quickly to the top.

Sasuke smirked when he got far enough up that he could see some of the faces of the men in the audience. His bet was that they had all betted on Neji winning. They would definately recieve a shock when his Naruto won. He wasn't allowed to bet during this competion since he was a part of it, but if he could he would've betted on Naruto winning the whole thing.

* * *

Naruto stood quietly across from Neji waiting for the propter to tell them to begin. When the propter did he still stood silently watching Neji watchh him. He could tell that Neji was trying to read him and his abilities. He smiled. Not even Neji's advanced Hyuuga Kekei Genkai could read everything about him.

Neji crept forward slightly. He was waiting for Naruto to move, but the boy wouldn't even move back as he crept forward. Perhaps Naruto didn't know of his most powerful technique. _"Good_," he thought to himself, _"I can win this battle quickly without having to deal with his speed. Not that it would have mattered. Not even speed can beat my technique." _

"Well," Neji said aloud, "are you going to attack me or are you just going to stand their and let me beat you up. If that's so then you should just give up."

"I have no reason to come racing towards you. I know I'm going to win this battle in the end."

"You can't beat me," said Neji. "It's absurd that you would even think it to be possible. These eyes have shown me many things including the fact that people's limitations are set. Yours will never allow you the ability to defeat me let alone the ability to become Hokage. Only a fool wastes his time trying to be come something he can never be."

"Only a coward hides behind limitations so that he can never become something he should be," answered Naruto.

Neji growled. He did not like being called a coward just because he was trying to enlighten an idiot. "You think anyone can become Hokage. All's it takes is a bit of hard work. Open your eyes. Out of all the ninja in this world think of how many become Hokage."

"You're right. Not just anyone can become Hokage, but it's not because of strength isn't the deciding factor on who becomes Hokage. By my experience it's usually the fools who get the job because they can do what no one else can."

"Those who become Hokage are destined to be so. We all have our own destiny and we must follow it obediently. The only destiny we all share is death."

"If you want so badly to believe in destiny then perhaps you should realize that their are more things that we all have in common. We all live and love. We enjoy happiness and suffer sadness. Destiny contribute to each of these things that we all share and she can be both very kind and very cruel. Perhaps if you stopped seeing her for the horrible things that she may have done in your life you would become aware of all the good things that she has given you."

"You don't know anything!" growled Neji. "You don't know anything about my life and my clan. You don't know anything about our heritage of hatred. Let me enlighten you so that you know how life is. For generations the main household of our clan has practiced a secret jutsu known as the curse-mark jutsu. The curse mark is the symbol of a bird locked in its cage. Its the mark of those who are bound to a destiny they cannot escape." He reached up and took off his headband to show everyone the seal that he was forced to hold on his forehead. "I was four years old when the leaders of my clan branded my forehead with their curse-mark jutsu. On that same day a great celebration took place in the hidden leaf village. After many years of war a peace agreement had at last been reached with the land of lightning and they had sent the houd cloud ninja to sign the treaty and join in the celbration. Everyone was their to welcome our old enemies. Every gennin and jounin in the leaf village. Only one clan was absent. The Hyuuga clan, because this was the day on which the heir to the main household was to turn three. It was Lady Hinata's third birthday. Her father, Lord Hiashi Hyuuga sits up there. He and my father, Hizashi Hyuuga, are twin brothers. And yet he came into the world first so he is head fo the family. The first born. While my father, his twin brother is banished to a lesser branch of the family. It was then, on the day the heir to the household turned three, that the curse mark was put on me and I was made a bird in a cage by my own uncle. You see, this is more than a mark that we bare. It is also the instrument by which they keep us in our place. We live with the fear that they will use this curse mark to turn our brains to jelly any time they want. Fear. That is what we live with, and we live with it every day. Only in death are we free of it. This is how the power of the byakugan is kept sealed away. Only the Hyuuga possess this unique form of kekei genkai, and of course there are many who would steal it from us. That is why we exist. It is the purpose of the branch family to defend that secret and to serve the keepers of the secret, the main household, obediently and without question for eternity. That is our destiny, or was, until that dreadful night. They went to far. When they murdered my father. One night someone entered the main household and abducted Lady Hinata. Lord Hiyashi quickly caught and killed the man. And who was this intruder stealing through the shadows in the dead of night wearing a mask over his face? It was none other than the head cloud ninja of the land of lightning. The man who had just signed an alliance with us. It was obvious to everyone that he was after the secret of the Byakugan, but the land of lightnign professed shock at this willful murer of their ninja. They claimed that the hidden leaf village was in violation of the treaty and they demanded recompense. Things got worse and worse until it looked like war would break out anew. The leaf village wanted above all things to avoid a war so at last they made a deal: a life for a life. The land of lightning demanded the death of the person who had slain their ninja. If there was to be peace Lord Hiyashi must die. The leaf village excepted their terms, and so to avert a war a man was killed, but not Hiyashi. My father, his twin brother, was killed in his place. In order to protect the main household. Only in death was my father finally free of this evil curse mark. They were so much alike, twin brothers, but their destinies had been determined long ago when one was born a few seconds after the other. And this match is the same. Your destiny was decided when I was chosen as your opponent. It's your destiny to lose to me, and that's it." With that he replaced his headband so that it covered the seal once more.

"Your father was a great man," said Naruto. "He lived life to protect those he loved. To protect those in his family. To protect his son. To protect his neices. Even to protect his only beloved brother. He gave up his life happily so that he could see that his family lived no matter what. He was a great man and his life was never determined by destiny."

"Don't talk about my father as if you know him. You don't know anything about my father. You don't know what it's like to be branded by a mark that sets you apart. A mark that can never be wiped away."

"I wish that people would top telling me that I don't understand what it's like when the truth is that they are the ones that don't understand," Naruto shook his head.

"What?" asked Neji.

Naruto gathered chakra towards his stomach to show off the seal that had been placed on his stomach when he had just been born. No matter how hard he tried, even though the Kyuubi was no longer contained in the seal, he could never get rid of it. It was the one seal that he had never been able to destroy. He heard many gasps in the audience. "Do you know what this is?" he asked Neji.

"What is that?" asked Neji.

"It's a cage," answered Naruto.

"How dare you mock my words," growled Neji.

"I'm not mocking you," said Naruto. "I'm only telling the truth. I'm telling you that everything you've experienced I have experienced worse. You were given that seal that has branded you as a part of the branch family by your uncle when you were four. This seal was given to me by my father on the day I was born, and it has branded me as nothing more than a container to the creature known as the Kyuubi. You know who that is right?"

"That's the nine-tailed fox demon," gasped Neji.

"That's right. This seal has branded me as nothing more than a jinchuriki, a carrier of a demon, in the eyes of the world. That seal that you carry has branded you as part of the branch family in the eyes of the Hyuuga clan. So don't tell me that I don't understand what it's like to be branded by a mark that can never be taken. Don't tell me I don't know what's it like to be thought of as different or inferior just because I was given a seal that no one else has. Because the truth is that you are the one who doesn't know what it's like to feel this pain. Now the difference between us is that I learned that feeling sorry for myself and thinking that that's the way life is and I should just stick to some stupid destiny that was preordained for me the moment I was born and my father gave me this seal is cowardly. I learned that the only way to live life is to do as I please no matter what others might say about me. As soon as you learn how to do that, then maybe you will understand that you are not the only one who has felt the pain of being set apart. Perhaps when you have come to work your way out of this bought of self pity that you have forced yourself into you will understand that destiny controls no one she only helps them along in life." Naruto walked forward slightly. "If you still don't believe me. If you still think that destiny controls everything. If you still believe that the curse-mark that you have controls you then fight me now and we shall see who is the correct one. I shall prove you wrong."

Neji lowered himself. The idiot was going to lose now. He had done the one bad thing that anyone facing Neji could do. He had stepped into range for Neji eight trigram attack. He attacked Naruto until finally he got to the end of the 64th palm when he realized that he was unable to move. "What's going on?" he said as he tried to get his body to move.

"I dodged each of those attacks and instead hit your pressure points, which renders you motionless," Naruto smiled.

"I guess that means you won," said the propter.

"Not yet," said Naruto as he moved forward so that he was standing right in front of Neji. He placed his hand on Neji's forehead in the same way that he had seen Hiyashi do it in the memories that he had gathered of Neji gaining that seal. After a few moments of standing there he removed his hand and reached over to remove Neji's headband once more. The cloth fell away to reveal a flawless forehead without a trace of any sort of seal. There was more gasps in the audience when they saw this.

"What did you do?" asked Neji who did not know what was going on.

Naruto simply reached up to his own headband and removed it to reveal that the smae seal that had once been on Neji's forehead now rested on his own. "I've removed the seal that you said could never be removed. I've given you freedom that you said that you could not earn unless you died. I have proven you wrong just as I said I would. Now it is nothing but your choise wether you will stick to your duty and protect Hinata, your cousin, just as your father protected his brother. She needs you, but she will never tell you that. The truth is that the only way she will be able to rule her clan as she should would be with you by her side to help her." He turned to the propter as he placed his headband back on his forehead. "Now the match is over."

"Wait!" said Neji making both of them turn to him. "Why did you take on the seal? If you already have your own that you can't get rid of why did you take on mine?"

Naruto rubbed his stomach where the Kyuubi's seal was still showing fully. "This mark on my stomach is the only seal that I have ever encountered that I have not been able to destroy. I took on your seal because I know I can destroy and that is what I am doing now."

"Why?" asked Neji.

"Because you love Hinata, but you have forced yourself away from her because of something that she had no control over. Now you have nothing to come between you two and you can help her through trying times as well as she can help you through trying times. Because I believe that this seal should never be used on any human being and that if you and Hinata come to rule the Hyuuga clan together as I know you will you will rid this world of that seal. And most importantly because I hate to see my friends suffer."

"I'm done," said Neji. "I won't fight any more."

"Then the match goes to Naruto," said the propter loudly so that everyone in the audience could hear. There was no cheering. No one could speak through their shock of what had just occured within the arena. It was nothing but silence.

Naruto walked forward once more and hit Neji's pressure points so that he could release him from the paralyzing state. "Come on," he said as he held his hand out so that Neji could grab it.

"Thank you Naruto," he said. Naruto helped him up. "I think I'm going to go apologize to Lady Hinata."

"I'm sure she would love to hear it," Naruto smiled. "She's in the infirmary."

"What?" asked Neji. "Why?"

"Her wounds acted up while we were fighting. They took her to the infirmary so that they could try to heal them again. I'm sure she would love it if you would go to be by her side." Neji nodded before taking off in the direction of the infirmary while Naruto went to join his teammates up in the rafters.

* * *

I think this is the longest chapter I've written so far. I hope you guys liked it.


	34. Chapter 34

Neji entered the infirmary quietly to find Hinata sitting up in her bed. She looked slightly pale, but other than that she didn't look sick. He suddenly felt odd being in the same room as her. Did he really deserve to be in her presence after he had overstepped his position and so cruelly beat her up. He stood frozen in the doorway until Hinata finally noticed him.

"N-Neji!" she gasped quietly.

The boy who had been sitting next to her, Neji recognized him to be one of her teammates, turned to glare at him. "What the heck are you doing here?" he yelled as he jumped to his feet.

"I was hoping to talk to my cousin," he said calmly.

"No way!" growled Kiba. "You can't talk to her you bastard."

"I-it's fine Kiba-san," said Hinata. "I-is there something you n-need?"

"I wanted to ask you a question," said Neji.

"Wh-what is it?" asked Hinata.

"Naruto said that you were going to get rid of the cursed seal when you become the head of the house."

"If I become the head," sighed Hinata.

"What do you mean?" asked Neji.

"H-haven't you wondered why m-my sister is still part of the main family when she is younger than me?" asked Hinata.

"I hadn't thought about it," said Neji. That was somewhat of a lie. He had always thought it was unfair that she was able to remain part of the main household when his family had been banished for his father being born seconds after his uncle.

"My father thought I would be too weak to be the head so he asked for permission to give birth to another heir. The elders agreed. On her 18th birthday I have to fight her and whoever wins will become the head while the other will be banished to the branch family."

"That's not fair!" gasped Neji losing his composure for a small second.

"I will try to defeat my sister, but my father is only training her now," said Hinata. "He won't spend any time with me. He doesn't believe that I am strong enough."

"What if I teach you?" asked Neji. "I've learned a lot of the Hyuuga-clan's secrets without a teacher. I could teach you anything you need to know."

"Why?" asked Kiba who had been glaring at him up until this point.

"She could save all of the branch family from the fate of having these cursed seals," said Neji. "I just got my seal taken away and I'm not going to let them force me to take it back. If I can help Hinata-sama in any way, I will willingly do so."

"Your seal is gone?" asked Hinata. Neji nodded and pulled off his forehead protector to show his unmarked forehead. "That's great," she said happily. "How did you convince father to get rid of it?"

"Naruto did it," said Neji. "He said he can destroy the seal easily."

"How did he do it?" asked Hinata.

"I'm not entirely certain," answered Neji. "So will you be willing to let me stay by your side and help you so that you can lead our clan."

"Don't do it Hinata," Kiba said suspiciously. "I don't trust him."

"Would you really be willing to help me?" asked Hinata. Neji just nodded. "I would be honored if you would stay by my side then. Maybe I can actually beat my little sister then."

* * *

On his way back to stand with Sakura, Naruto passed Sasuke who was walking down to the battlefield to fight Gaara. "Be careful," he said as he stopped in front of him.

"I'll be careful not to hurt him too badly," said Sasuke.

"Be careful not to get hurt too badly," Naruto restated.

"Don't worry Naruto," said Sasuke as he placed his hand on the boy's shoulder, "I can take care of myself. You just have to worry about what comes after my fight with Gaara."

"That's what I'm worried about," said Naruto.

Sasuke sighed. He should have known that Naruto was talking about his fight with Orochimaru that they were planning. "Don't worry Naruto. I would never allow that bastard to get a hold of me or the Hokage. I'll kill him today and then that will be the end of his attacks."

Naruto nodded quietly, but he didn't seem convinced. Out of all of the enemies that they had faced Orochimaru was one of the only ones that he feared could hurt his loved ones as he had done in the future.

Sasuke sighed again and pulled Naruto into a hug. "I promise you that I won't die. Orochimaru can't control me anymore. There is nothing to worry about." He pulled Naruto away from himself so that he could see Naruto's worried eyes. "I have to go now and face Gaara. You need to concetrate on saving him and not worry about me. Okay?"

Naruto nodded again, but his eyes still had some worry remaining in them. Sasuke figured that he would never be able to make Naruto completely stop worrying about his friends so he decided to just let it go before he got eliminated from his match for being late to the battlefield.

* * *

Gaara walked slowly down to the field. He felt no need to try to get their quicker nor did he feel like walking fast. He was too busy thinking about all that had gone on during this chuunin exam. All that Naruto had said and done for him. But the thing that seemed to run through his head the most was the time that Naruto had told him that he could be his friend. The boy wasn't forcing him to be friends with him, but he was giving an open invitation. It was different than any of the other people he had known in his life. Everyone else he had known refused to even play with him, let alone be his friend. "_Maybe it's because Naruto knew what it was like carrying a demon inside of him," _he thought to himself, _"but then how did he know that I had a demon inside of me?"_

He continued to ponder these thoughts until two chakra signatures appearing before him caught his attention. He looked up to see two ninjas standing before him smirking. They looked like smug bastards and he didn't feel like bothering with them so he just continued in his thoughts as he slowly kept walking forward.

"You puny kids think this tournament is all about you," said the one with brown hair and brown eyes, "but it's really about the people who bet on you. Or against you in your case. You see our master's got a lot of money on the other guy to win."

"Got it?" said the one with grey hair and sunglasses. "That means you gotta lose."

He wondered if he should care for a small moment until he realized that he didn't care and decided to keep walking. However, the grey haired ninja stepped in front of him to block his path.

"Well," said the brown haired one, "So what's it gonna be kid?"

"Maybe he's too scared to talk."

Finally, Gaara had enough of their annoying talking. He smiled wickedly at them as he allowed his sand to burst forth from the gourd on his back in order to attack the two ninjas. If only the men had gotten out of the way, then they might have been able to last through the day.

Gaara's sand quickly wrapped around the two ninja before they had a chance to escape and rendered them both motionless. He only allowed their heads to remain above the sand. Both of them begged for their life as he allowed his sand to slowly crush them. He would have killed them both and fed his mother their blood, but he suddenly felt arm wrap around his right arm.

"Stop," said Naruto as he shook the captive arm slightly. "You'll kill them."

Gaara looked over at Naruto and then back at the men. He had no qualms about killing the two men, but Naruto seemed too innocent to witness death even though he had seen the boy kill Kabuto in cold blood. It almost seemed that the Naruto that killed Kabuto was a totally different person than the one that stood next to him now. This Naruto seemed so much more innocent then the one that killed Kabuto. He knew they were one and the same, but he was having troubles associating the two. He sighed and, using his sand, knocked the two ninjas out and allowed them to drop from his grip. It actually surprised him that he was willing to do this. He had never before stopped himself from feeding his mother just because somebody asked him to even if it was his brother or his sister. "Why don't you want me to kill them?" he asked Naruto. "You seemed to be just fine with killing when you killed both of your opponents in the preliminary rounds."

"I hate killing," answered Naruto as he moved to check on the ninjas to make sure that they were okay. "I only kill when it becomes a necessity. That is why so many people think that I am weak. I make sure to hold myself back because I know that if I move with my full strength I won't be able to stop myself from killing someone."

"What necessity prompted you to kill the ones at the preliminary rounds?" asked Gaara.

"They were going to kill Sasuke," said Naruto.

"That's not true," said Gaara. "You were going to kill Kabuto before he was a threat to Sasuke."

Naruto bit his lip for a moment as he thought through his answer. Finally, he sighed and said, "I know about the attack that the sand and sound villages have planned for Konoha. Kabuto was the right hand man of the one who planned the whole attack. He would have been dangerous in the future if I hadn't killed him when he was still trying to keep up his persona of being part of the leaf village."

"You mentioned that you knew about our attack before," said Gaara. "How do you know?"

"I can't answer that," said Naruto.

"What do you mean you can't answer that?" asked Gaara.

Naruto shook his head. "I just can't answer that question. I am sorry."

"Fine," growled Gaara as he moved past Naruto.

"Good luck on your fight," said Naruto.

Gaara turned to Naruto with a hint of shock on his face. "You know I'm going against Sasuke right?" he asked.

"I told him good luck too," said Naruto. "I wouldn't allow my friends to do a tournament like this without wishing them good luck. I gotta go. You should go to. You don't want to be late." With that and a wave Naruto left the hallway so that he could go to the place where all of the contestants waited for their turn.

Gaara was shocked to find himself waving back at the boisterous boy even after he had already disappeared from sight.

* * *

i always wondered why Hanabi got to remain a part of the main household when Neji's dad got banished to the branch family so that was what i came up with. i hope you like this new chapter.


	35. Chapter 35

Sasuke's fight with Gaara played out the same way it had the first time they participated in the chuunin exams in order to stick to their plan. He had been worried that it might not work like they wanted it to because of Naruto's interference until this point, but the whole battle remained the same.

He got so caught up in sticking to exactly what had happened the first time that he almost chased after Gaara when he and his siblings ran into the forest, but before he could Sakura ran past him and said in his mind, _"Stick to the plan." _Sasuke nodded even though he knew that Sakura could no longer see him and turned to run to where the hokage and the fake kazekage sat. He had to run at his top speed to make it onto the roof and into the area of the hokage's battle before Orochimaru's subordinates were able to put up the barrier. He saw as the ANBUs who were just behind him stopped because they didn't make it in time to go inside.

"I never thought I'd get to face you in battle again," smirked Orochimaru.

No one noticed Sasuke inside the barrier so he took the chance to turn and take down one of the people keeping the barrier up, but before he could attack they had already placed an inner barrier so that no one could reach them. Sasuke growled quietly to himself.

"It doesn't look like I'll be able to get out of this easily," said the Hokage.

"Of course it won't be easy," said Orochimaru. "I know you. It would be a bother if someone got in here and got in our way. Wouldn't it?"

"You're a little late," said Sasuke. "I've already gotten in."

"Sasuke!" gasped the Hokage. "What are you doing here?"

"Sasuke," Orochimaru smirked. "I always welcome you. Have you come to regain the present that I gave you? The one that the jinchuuriki stole from you."

"Never," answered Sasuke.

* * *

Sakura followed closely behind Naruto as the two of them chased Gaara and his siblings. She was thankful that they were able to beat the ambush and were now gaining on the sand children. Naruto was running before her rather quickly. She knew he was trying to be slow for her sake, but his worry for Gaara was making him speed up slowly and she was having a hard time keeping up with him.

"We've almost caught up," said Naruto.

"I'm glad," said Sakura a little breathlessly. She cursed herself. She didn't want Naruto to realize that he was pushing her too hard because he would be worried about her and he didn't have the time to do that. Thankfully, Naruto didn't notice her little slip up.

Instead Naruto quickened his speed. Sakura didn't even try to keep up with him. She knew that she wasn't really needed anyway. She was really a just in case measure during this part of the plan.

Naruto landed right in front of the siblings of sand making them stop in their tracks. Before either of them could do anything about it Naruto lunged forward and yelled, "Possum jutsu!" as he touched Gaara making them both fall asleep.

Sakura was barely able to catch him before he went plummeting to the ground. She carried his surprisingly light body to a branch nearby to watch what was going on.

"This isn't good," said Temari cautiously as she lowered Gaara to the branch.

"The idiot is going to wake up Shukaku," growled Kankurou.

"Don't worry," said Sakura. "Naruto's going to stop all of Shukaku's rampages right now."

"How do you know?" hissed Temari.

"Because I've seen him do it before."

"What do you mean?" asked Kankurou.

"He has two other jinchuuriki living at his house," answered Sakura. "Trust me. Naruto will help your brother get through this without a rampaging Shukaku.

* * *

Gaara awoke in the middle of the desert to find Naruto looking at him carefully.

"Is this another walk through memories? What memories do you have to show me now?" he asked.

Naruto laughed. "No. If you want to find memories here you'll have to find them on your own. I've come here to show you something else entirely."

"What is it?" asked Gaara.

"Shuka-chan," Naruto answered.

"How do you know about Shuka-chan?" gasped Gaara.

Naruto just smiled and began to walk towards a forming sand cloud. "Don't go that way!" gasped Gaara.

"Don't worry," Naruto smiled as he took Gaara's hand and pulled him forward. "We're going to the eye of the storm." They battled their way through the storm until they came upon a thick forest that they couldn't even get into because the trees were too close together. "Here we are."

"Why were we trying to get here?"

"Shuka-chan is behind those trees," said Naruto.

"Really!" gasped Gaara. "How will we get in though?"

"You just have to want to go in," said Naruto.

"What do you mean?" asked Gaara.

"Do you want to go in there and see Shuka-chan?"

"Of course I do." As Gaara said this the sand below the trees began to shift and pulled the trees along with it. A path was made just big enough for a human to walk through. They walked through the trees for so long that they couldn't even see the sand anymore. "What is this place?"

"This place is your happiness," answered Naruto.

"My happiness?" asked Gaara.

"It used to be a lot bigger, but as you had to suffer through more and more pain the bleak sand took over much of the life of your happiness."

"Why was it blocked before?"

"Your fear of the demon prompted you to seal off your emotions and live as though you didn't have any of them."

"How do you know all these things?"

"I've done my research," said Naruto. "I'm trying to bring all the jinchuuriki together before the akatsuki can get a hold of them. To do so I have to know as much as I can about them."

"The Akatsuki?" asked Gaara.

"A group of people trying to gain control of all the 'demons' so that they can use them to control the world."

Finally they came upon an opening in the trees and Gaara froze when he saw Shukaku pacing around the area cursing and swearing to kill the man who made Gaara bleed.

"That man happens to be the love of my life," said Naruto as he walked forward and stepped right in front of Shukaku, "and I'd rather you didn't kill him."

"But he hurt Gaara," grumbled Shukaku.

"Be careful. You don't want your anger to control you. That's the reason Gaara won't talk to you anymore," Naruto smiled.

"That wasn't my fault," growled Shukaku. "That man, who claims to be his uncle, tried to kill my Gaara."

"You frightened him," said Naruto. "He can't even sleep anymore for fear that you will come out and kill him or anyone else that he loves."

"I didn't mean to," mumbled Shukaku.

"He doesn't know that," said Naruto, "but you can always apologize and explain yourself to him."

"But he won't even speak to me," said Shukaku.

"No," answered Naruto, "but he'll speak to Shuka-chan."

Shukaku seemed to think for a moment before nodding and beginning to shrink. Shukaku morphed until she turned into a beautiful young woman with a black kimono that hung off her shoulders. Gaara gasped at the sight of the young woman that he had known as his motherly figure when he was young. The woman who would play with him when he was lonely, calm him when he was upset, and took care of him when no one else would. The woman that he had known as Shuka-chan all his life and who he had trusted with all his heart. The woman who was the demon that he feared so badly that he wouldn't even allow himself to fall asleep. "Shuka-chan?" he asked as he stepped forward to see her better.

"Gaara!" she gasped. She hadn't wanted him to see her in her spiritual form. It was an ugly form and she hated it, but she always used it when she was angry and she had a pretty severe anger problem. The only thing that had ever been able to calm her before was the presence of Gaara, but then when his own uncle attacked him she couldn't control her anger and scared Gaara away. From then on she had nothing more to control her anger because she had never seen him again. "You didn't tell me he was already here," she accused Naruto as she started trying to smooth out her kimono which had absolutely no wrinkles to begin with.

"He was going to figure it out sooner or later," shrugged Naruto.

Shukaku stepped towards Gaara with her hand outstretched cautiously towards him. He tried to step away, but, as he turned to see Naruto nodding at him, he walked forward to meet her. "Are you really Shuka-chan?" he asked.

She bit her lip. "Of course I am."

With that Gaara did something completely surprising: he jumped forward and wrapped his arms around her waist as a child would his mother and said, "I missed you so much."

Shukaku didn't know what to do. She had been ignored for many years and now he was hugging her as though nothing had happened. "I'm sorry," she said as tears came to her eyes. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," said Gaara as he backed away from her. He still showed no emotion on his face, but something about his demeanor showed that he was happy to have her back. She had been the first family that he had ever truly known and he had always regretting losing her.

"I promise you," she said, "I will never do anything to make you fear me ever again."

"You'll just have to get used to her quirks," said Naruto, "and then you can both be together forever."

"How did you know about this?" Gaara asked again.

"I told you," said Naruto. "I did my research."

"You can't learn something like that through research," growled Gaara. "So how did you know about us?"

Naruto paused. He couldn't tell them the truth, they wouldn't even believe him if he did, but he couldn't think of any way to explain his knowledge any better than what he had already said.

"Kyuubi-sama?" asked Shukaku.

"I can't say anything else," said Naruto. "I did my research, but not like a normal person does. I just did my research."

"You will have to tell me one of these days," growled Gaara.

"I will if I have time," said Naruto. He couldn't promise anything because he really didn't know how the future was going to go. He really just needed Gaara and Shukaku to stop asking him questions. "We should probably go now."

Gaara tensed. He had just now got to see Shuka-chan again and now they were going to have to go. He didn't want to leave so soon.

Naruto seemed to realize what he was thinking because he smiled and said, "It's okay. You can always see her in your dreams." Gaara nodded and Naruto turned to Shukaku. "I just want to tell you something before we go. It really hurts when a spirit tries to take over our body without our consent, but if we ask for help it doesn't hurt at all." Shukaku nodded. She understood what Naruto meant and she swore silently to herself that she would never try to forcefully take over Gaara's body again. Besides, now that she had the boy that she had thought of as her son back, she would be able to control her anger much better.

* * *

alright i have a couple of apologies to make

1. sorry about taking a little while to write this one. i kind of got stuck on it.

2. sorry i didn't write Sasuke's fight scene. i couldn't think of a way to write the scene without making it sound a lot like the actual battle and i didn't want to write it if you all could just watch it. however, i will make it up to you with the next chapter against orochimaru.

and also i wanted to say that i know that Shukaku is normally portrayed as a guy, but i thought that since he always called his sand his mother i would just make Shukaku a girl.

i hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.


	36. Chapter 36

"You have to get out of here!" said the Hokage.

"I don't want him to do that," said Orochimaru. "I want him to stay here so that he will see how much power I can give to him. Don't worry Sasuke. At the end of this battle you will see how much power I have and will join me so that you can gain power."

"I will join you on the day that Konohagakure falls," growled Sasuke.

"That is going to be today," Orochimaru smiled.

"I will never let Konoha fall," growled the Hokage.

"Nor will I," said Sasuke.

"We shall have to see," said Orochimaru.

Suddenly the battle began. Both Orochimaru and the Hokage ran forward to fight against each other. They moved so fast that Sasuke couldn't find a way to join in the battle without running the chance of hurting the hokage as well as Orochimaru.

It seemed to be only a moment before Orochimaru jumped back and began to perform hand signs that Sasuke had never seen before. He was actually surprised that he had never seen this jutsu. For the longest time he had believed that he already knew all of Orochimaru's moves, but this one was not like the others. He watched with his shuriken eyes as two coffins grew out of the roof that they stood on. A third one began to grow as well, but it was stopped when the hokage stopped the jutsu.

The tops of the coffins fell away to reveal the first and second hokages' dead bodies. Sasuke was shocked as they ran forward in Orochimaru's stead to fight the hokage. He got over it quickly though, so that he could help fight against one of these new enemies.

After some time of fighting against wood and water Sasuke saw the hokage begin to perform the one jutsu that Naruto had warned him never to let anyone do. It was the jutsu that the yondaime had used to seal the Kyuubi within him. "Stop!" he yelled at the hokage as he jumped in front of him and grabbed his hand before he could finish the jutsu.

"What are you doing?" the hokage yelled back.

"I'm stopping you from making a huge mistake," growled Sasuke. He pushed the hokage out of the way as another attack came in their direction.

"This is the only way to defeat him," said the hokage.

"You won't defeat him like this though," said Sasuke. "If you try, you will die in vain."

"There is no other way."

"There is another way."

"No there isn't."

"We just have to fight him together," Sasuke said as he blocked another attack.

"What about the hokages."

"I can get rid of them," Sasuke said. "I learned it with my sharingan. I just need you to buy me some time while I prepare."

The hokage looked skeptical, but he had no other choice than to do as Sasuke had said. Sasuke sank to the ground and began performing a series of very complicated looking hand signs.

Just as the hokage was about to collapse Sasuke jumped to his feet and sprinted forward. He grabbed both of the dead hokage's hands and threw them towards their coffins. He followed their flight and, as they regained their balance, he slammed his chest into their chests. This move he had actually learned from watching Kabuto try to perform it on Naruto more than once. It completely destroyed the nervous system so that there was no way that their bodies would ever be able to move again. He was grateful that he didn't have to perform the same jutsu on the fourth hokage who, he assumed, was in the third coffin.

Finally, he was able to face Orochimaru and fight him head on with the help of the hokage. He would admit that he would much rather face this foe of his lives with Naruto by his side, but he also felt glad that Naruto wouldn't have to face the man who had caused them both so much suffering in the past and the future. Naruto did not deserve to have to deal with him once again.

Both Sasuke and the hokage ran towards Orochimaru and began attacking him with all they had. Orochimaru was losing and they all knew it. Even with the body that he had taken from another person, he was becoming so damaged that he could barely move. Because of this he decided to play dirty. He pulled out a dagger and thrust it into the hokage's chest while throwing some sort of dust into Sasuke's eyes.

The hokage cried out in pain as he collapsed onto the floor and Sasuke wiped his eyes of the powder that had affected them. Even though he had gotten all of the dust out he could not see anything. The only thing that faced him was complete darkness. He wanted to chase after Orochimaru, but he couldn't do that since he could not see anything. He was happy though that he had been able to damage Orochimaru's heart while they were fighting. Orochimaru would have to have his heart fixed before he could attack again.

The three ANBUs who had been forced to remain outside ran to both of their sides. The only thing they could do though was to rush the two of them to the hospital.

* * *

Sasuke awoke to find that he still could not see. He could sense that both Sakura and Naruto were in the room with him.

"Sorry guys," he said. "I wasn't able to perform my part in this whole plan."

"It's not your fault," Sakura gasped. "That man played dirty. We can't win them all."

Naruto remained silent, and it scared Sasuke. Had he disappointed the boy so much that he wouldn't even talk to him? That's when he felt Naruto's rough fingers run just under his eyes. "Thank god," he sighed. "This dust will wear off by the end of today. I was afraid you might be permanently blind. That would have been horrible."

Sasuke sighed in relief. He didn't even care about the fact that he wasn't going to be blind (he hadn't even really allowed the feeling that he was blind to settle in), but he was relieved that Naruto wasn't mad at him.

Sakura smiled at the two of them. She really needed to get them together. Then a thought came to mind. It's time for another attempt. "You know Naruto," she said. "Sasuke will have to have someone watching over him until he can recover. He can't really stay here because they need the beds for those who got hurt during the battle."

"What about his parents?" asked Naruto. He liked the idea of being able to look after Sasuke and be by his side for the whole day, but he just didn't think he would be the right person for the job.

"They will have to be helping the village rebuild," Sakura answered. "There was quite a lot of significant damage, and the Uchiha's are expected to help out because they used to own the police force of Konoha."

"What about Itachi?" Naruto asked.

"All the ANBU have been called to protect the Hokage," she answered.

"Can't you take care of him?" asked Naruto. "You would be the best since you have more medical training than we do."

"I can't," she said quickly. "I promised to help the nurses at the hospital." Of course that was a lie since most people still didn't even know that she could do medical ninjutsu, but Naruto didn't have to know that. "You should do it. Sasuke doesn't trust anyone else as much as he trusts you."

"Ok," Naruto said happily. "I'll be glad to help out."

"Good," she said. "You should probably take him home now than."

Naruto nodded before helping Sasuke up. Sasuke didn't really need the help, he was temporarily blind not temporarily immobile, but he accepted it anyway because it gave him a reason to hold onto Naruto for the mearest of seconds. When he was steadily on his feet Naruto grabbed his hand and started pulling him out of the hospital room while Sakura watched them go with a smile.

* * *

"So what should we do?" asked Naruto when they reached Sasuke's house. They had walked all the way there holding hands and Sasuke didn't think he could have been happier. He supposed he would have to thank Sakura for her unwanted meddling now.

"Are my parents not home?" asked Sasuke.

"I don't think so," answered Naruto. "They're probably already helping the village rebuild."

"I see," said Sasuke.

"Would you like something to eat or drink?" asked Naruto as he guided Sasuke so that he could sit on the couch. When Sasuke was fully seated Naruto slipped his hand out of his grasp so that he could go to the kitchen and Sasuke had to resist the desire to reach out and pull him back.

"I don't need anything," he answered.

"You need to at least drink something," Naruto said.

"Than I will have water," Sasuke sighed.

"Ok," said Naruto. Sasuke could almost hear the smile in Naruto's voice and it made him long to see the other's face. He would go mad if he couldn't Naruto's face any longer. The thought crossed his mind that that could happen, but he pressed it to the side because he knew that if it ever did happen it would be far in the future and because of old age.

Naruto gave Sasuke the glass and helped him drink the water before he put it on the table until Sasuke would want some more. Just then Sasuke's parents walked through the front door. Naruto stood and bowed to them politely as he said, "It's very nice to see you again Mr. and Mrs. Uchiha."

Fugaku growled at Naruto and then walked upstairs. He was still mad at Naruto for telling the council of his family's plans to overthrow the hokage. Sasuke kind of thought it was annoying that his father still felt that way since it was Fugaku's fault for coming up with the plan in the first place. Besides, Fugaku's anger towards Naruto always made the few nights that Naruto stayed over very awkward for every person involved.

His mother, on the other hand, was much more accepting of Naruto. She saw only that he had saved her from the sharp edge of Itachi's sword. "Naruto," she said happily. "What are you doing here my dear?"

"Sasuke was attacked with some sort of powder that makes him blind for the day," Naruto answered. "I thought that I would take care of him until you guys came home. Now that you're here I should probably leave."

Sasuke tensed. He didn't want Naruto to leave just yet, but he couldn't think of an excuse to make him stay either.

"You should stay the night," Mikoto smiled. Sasuke sigh. His mother had never been one for needing a reason to do anything in this world.

"Oh I don't want to be a bother," said Naruto. He tried to stay away from staring the night unless they had something really important that they had to do because of Sasuke's father's hatred towards him.

"We don't mind sweetheart," said Sasuke's mother.

"I don't want to get on Uchiha-san's nerves," sighed Naruto.

"Please stay," Mikoto begged.

Sasuke could tell that Naruto was still wavering so he decided to use their last resort and gang up on him. "Please stay the night Naruto," he said.

Naruto sighed. There was no way he could say no when people began to gang up on him. Especially if one of those people was Sasuke. "Alright," he sighed. "I'll stay."


	37. Chapter 37

"We need to go see the Hokage," Naruto said suddenly as they sat at the table eating. Mikoto-san had already left to help Uchiha-san rebuild the village.

"I know," Sasuke said.

"I mean right now," Naruto said.

"At least finish your breakfast first," Sasuke pointed to the half-finished meal. "Konoha won't be in danger if we wait half an hour for you to finish eating."

"I know," Naruto sighed. "I just can't wait to go see baa-chan."

"I know Naruto," Sasuke took Naruto's hand to comfort him. "We'll see her soon."

Naruto smiled. Sasuke always knew how to make him feel better when he felt lonely or missed someone greatly. The two of them finished eating before heading off towards the hokage's office to meet Sakura.

* * *

"What do you two need?" asked the hokage when Sasuke and Naruto walked in. He seemed very tired, but other than a few bumps and bruises he seemed to be okay. Much better than he had been last time he had to go through this fight.

"We're waiting for Sakura to get here," Naruto said.

"Alright then," said the hokage. "Do you mind if I ask some questions?"

"Of course not," Naruto answered.

"Then first," said the hokage. "How did you know that Konoha was going to be attacked?"

"We have our ways," said Sasuke.

"That's not good enough," growled the hokage. "I have been going along with everything that you have told me, and it has all come true. I want to know how that is possible. No one can get all the right. Not even someone who can see the future. I also want to know how you guys can do some of the things that you do without any training."

"Sasuke's been using his sharingan," said Naruto.

"Neither of you have ever seen either the chidori or the rasengan. Besides I heard from Kakashi that you have actually expanded on the rasengan using wind chakra mixed with fire. A genin should not be able to do something so advanced."

"You've been watching us haven't you?" Sasuke asked suddenly. Naruto looked shocked. None of them had ever noticed anyone watching them.

"Do you expect me to allow suspicious people such as yourselves to roam through my city without any sort of supervision?"

"How did you watch us?" asked Naruto. "We didn't feel any ANBU following us."

"That is my secret," said the hokage. "Now answer my question."

Neither Sasuke nor Naruto knew what to say at that moment. They were trying so hard to hide the fact that they were from the future, but they had slipped up and had allowed the hokage to see that they were acting strange. They should have known that they couldn't keep it a secret forever, but they also knew that they still couldn't tell anyone. They couldn't even tell the hokage.

Naruto looked at Sasuke to try to figure out what to do, but even though Sasuke looked strong, Naruto knew that he was also at a loss. "It was through the help of the Kyuubi."

"Nice try Naruto," growled the hokage, "but you already told me that the Kyuubi is dead."

"The former Kyuubi is dead," said Naruto, "and I have taken his place as Kyuubi. The powers of the Kyuubi have been what is helping us throughout all these times." It wasn't exactly the truth, but it was as close as they were willing to get to it without threatening all of their plans to save the people.

"How is that possible?" asked the hokage. "The Kyuubi is an immortal demon. How is it possible for a mortal human to take her place."

"Kyuubi is a spirit," said Naruto. "The spirits are not immortal. They just have longer lives then they would have had if they had remained human. The reason that you believe that the spirits are immortal is because they pass their name and their powers onto another human when it is time for them to die. She was chosen by the former Kyuubi to take the name and then she passed it on to me. Now I am the Kyuubi."

"I see." The hokage still seemed very skeptical of them, but he could not say anything more as Sakura entered the room with the elderly council following behind her.

"What is the meaning of this?" asked the old man.

"Why have you taken us away from helping rebuild our city?" asked the old woman.

"We have a proposal," answered Naruto.

"One that needs all of you to approve before it can be fulfilled," said Sakura.

"And what is that?" asked the hokage.

"We need a new hokage," answered Sasuke.

"What?" the elderly council and the hokage gasped at the same time.

"It is clear that you are getting old jii-chan," said Naruto, "and you are becoming too weak to defend the leaf village as the hokage should be able to."

"What do you mean?" asked the hokage.

"He means that if I had not been there to fight against Orochimaru with you, than you would have been dead," growled Sasuke. Naruto grabbed Sasuke's arm and shook his head. He knew that anger would do them no good in this situation because the hokage was already suspicious of all their actions as it was.

"I am simply trying to say that the leaf village needs a stronger leader if it is going to survive another one of these attacks," said Naruto.

"And I suppose you think you're the one to do it," the old woman scoffed.

Sakura turned to say something very rude to the old lady to defend Naruto, but she caught a look sent by Naruto and grudgingly held her tongue.

"I would not be able to lead this village properly at this time, but I do have a suggestion as to who would be a good candidate."

"Oh?" asked the hokage, "and who would that be?"

"Lady Tsunade," answered Naruto.

"She does not want to become hokage," said the old woman.

"I can convince her," said Naruto.

"At least give this a try," said Sakura. "There's no one who could fill the role of fifth hokage better than her."

"How will you find her?" asked the old man.

"Jiraiya-sannin will take us," said Naruto.

"You can give it a try," said the hokage. He knew that he was growing too old for this job a long time ago and if these children could convince Lady Tsunade to take his place than he would gladly step aside to allow her to take the job.

"Thank you," Naruto said with a large grin.

* * *

"How do you plan on finding Jiraiya-sannin?" asked Sakura as they left the hokage's office.

"Of course," Naruto smiled. "Pervy-sage will be where all the girls barely have any clothes on. He'll be at the bath houses."

"Oh yeah," growled Sakura. "That was one thing that I really hated about him."

"What do you say we play a prank on him Sakura?" Naruto laughed.

"How do you plan to do that?" asked Sakura. The three of them had long ago learned that it was best just to go along with all of Naruto's pranks because he would do them without assistance, but they would be able to enjoy the hilarity of the prank.

"We can just give him what he likes."

"Why would you do that?"

"That way we can get him to agree to take us to baa-chan without having to argue with him." Naruto paused for a moment and Sasuke and Sakura thought that something must be wrong, but then Naruto shouted. "Darn it! Now I have to recreate my connection with the chief toad."

Sakura laughed. "You know Naruto," she said. "I think it's kind of funny that you show more respect to animals than you do to humans."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Naruto pouted.

"We should get going," said Sasuke.

"Alright!" Naruto said excitedly before pushing on ahead of him to lead the way to the bath houses.

* * *

sorry guys. i know this is a short chapter compared to my others, but i thought it would be best to stop the chapter here. i hope you enjoy.


	38. Chapter 38

Jiraiya sat hidden in a tree that looked over the woman's bath. There hadn't been very many girls coming here and it was hurting his research. Suddenly he saw the door to the bath house open and a tall blonde haired woman wearing nothing but a towel. She had beautiful golden hair and the most vivid blue eyes. He gave a lecherous grin as he watched the woman slip off her towel and slip into the water with her back to him. This woman would be great for his research.

"Oh what a nice bath," he heard her sigh. "It would be so much better if I had a handsome man by my side to enjoy it with me."

Jiraiya immediately jumped out of his hiding place and spoke to the girl. "I will join you my fair maiden," he said.

The woman looked up at him with shock in her eyes. "You will?" she asked.

"Of course," he said with another grin.

Just as he was about to start undressing, she got out and wrapped the towel around herself. "I would love that," she said, "but I'm kind of in a hurry. My friends and I are getting ready to leave town, and I have to go pack. If you come with us than we might be able to have a bath together while we are travelling."

"I will follow you anywhere," Jiraiya said as he tried to be romantic.

"We'll actually be looking for someone," she said. "Would you mind helping us?"

"I will do anything for you," said Jiraiya.

"Thanks," the woman smiled prettily. "We'll meet you at the bridge tomorrow." With that she left.

* * *

Sakura watched somewhat amusedly as Naruto interacted with Jiraiya-Sanin. He could have gotten the old man to go with them by simply telling him about that he was the son of the great Yondaime. God knows that Jiraiya would never deny anything to him if he did that. But no, he had to play a prank and punish the man for being a pervert. Not that she blamed him. It was kind of funny seeing Jiraiya get so perverted just because Naruto was before him. Especially, since she knew that Naruto was in fact a boy.

When Naruto left the Jiraiya sitting outside the bath house in a daze, she had to hold back a giggle. Jiraiya was really funny when he was acting like that. She looked over to see if Sasuke was enjoying Naruto and Sakura's amusement, but alls she saw was him sulking in a spot where he couldn't see the bath house at all. "Oh come on," she said. "It's not even his body."

"It's still him," Sasuke mumbled.

Sakura sighed. "You know you could have just asked him not to do it. You know he wouldn't have if you had asked him not to." Even as she said it, Sakura that Sasuke would never ask Naruto not to do something that Naruto wanted to do unless it was a life and death situation. He would never suspend any of Naruto's amusement no matter how he felt about the situation. Too bad he didn't know that Naruto would be happier to know that Sasuke cared enough about him to get jealous when he did a prank like this.

"Hn," Sasuke answered. Sakura smiled. Sasuke didn't really use that grunt much when he was around his team members, and it usually meant that he could think of nothing to say in his favor.

"Are you guys ready to go?" asked Naruto as he appeared before them in his fully clothed male body. He had a wide grin over his face and Sakura smiled at him. She looked over at Sasuke to see if he was ready to go and immediately saw that the man was in a much better mood than he had been previously. That was the affect of Naruto's smile.

"Ready whenever you are," she answered and Sasuke nodded his head to show his agreement.

* * *

The next morning Jiraiya was quick to get ready to leave. He couldn't wait to see that blonde and her no doubt lovely friends. He especially couldn't wait to have a bath with them like the woman had promised. Maybe they would even let him study them for his new book. He grinned pervertedly as he thought about it. Oh yes this would be a good trip.

* * *

Sasuke sat somewhat contentedly. Naruto had decided to make him a part of the prank by leaning against him in the female form. Naruto was taller than him in this form because, for some reason unknown to him, straight men seemed to be interested in the tall and slender women, but as Naruto sat slumped against him Sasuke could put his chin on his shoulder. If anyone had asked he would say he was doing it to help Naruto out with his prank, which Sasuke didn't even think was very funny, but he was really just happy to have Naruto in such close proximity even though the boy was in a female form.

When Jiraiya came into view Sasuke wrapped his arms around Naruto's slender waist like the possessive boyfriend he was supposed to be playing. It wasn't really that hard. He did not like the way the pervert was looking at Naruto, and he was a little overprotective of Naruto. Not that he'd ever admit that.

"Hey," greeted Naruto as he stood up and waved at Jiraiya. Sasuke stood up next to him and immediately wrapped an arm around his waist. Sakura stood on Naruto's other side to watch the prank unfold.

Jiraiya seemed somewhat disappointed to see Sasuke standing next to Naruto, and he couldn't tell if it was because Naruto supposedly had a boyfriend or because Sasuke wasn't a girl. "Hey my love," said Jiraiya as he stared at Naruto's boobs. That answered that question. He was upset that Sasuke wasn't a boy.

"Are you ready to go?" asked Naruto.

"Of course my sweet," said Jiraiya.

"Before we go you have to promise to help us look for the person that we are looking for no matter what happens," Naruto said seriously.

"Anything for you," Jiraiya agreed.

Naruto smiled a bright smile at him before a realization seemed to hit him. "Oh!" he gasped. "We haven't introduced ourselves. These are my friends Sakura and Sasuke."

Jiraiya glanced at the two of them quickly before returning his gaze to Naruto's boobs. Naruto pretended not to notice, but Sasuke clenched his unoccupied hand in a fist. He wanted so badly to punch the perverted man that was staring at Naruto's chest so outright. It didn't matter that this wasn't even Naruto's body. It was still Naruto and he didn't like the way Jiraiya was staring. "I am the great and powerful toad-sannin. I am Jiraiya," he said proudly as he took Naruto's hand and kissed it, "and I will protect you through this journey."

Sasuke changed his mind. Now he _was _going to punch Jiraiya. Or maybe a few well placed kunai would teach the man never to lust after Naruto. He was just about to pull out a few kunai when he caught sight of Sakura. Of course she had to be his conscious at this moment since Naruto was preoccupied. He sighed and put the kunai away. He wanted so badly to hit him, but Sakura was right. He shouldn't attack one of Naruto's old senseis. Naruto would definitely not be happy with him if he did.

Naruto smirked. "My name is Naruto," he said without taking his hand away from Jiraiya. The man froze when he heard the name of the hero in the only book that he had ever written that was not in the icha icha series. The name that he had given to his male character, but this person before him was clearly a woman. She had a nice rack to prove it to. "And I am the son of Minato."

Jiraiya immediately backed away in despair. This beautiful woman was a boy. How was that even possible? That was when he sensed the very obvious signs of a transformation jutsu being performed. How had he missed that? Naruto returned to his normal form and Jiraiya pouted. He wanted to go back home now that he wasn't going to get to hang out with the pretty girl that he thought Naruto was, but he had already given his word and he never went back on his word.

Sasuke changed his mind again. It was pretty funny to see the perverted man's dejected face. In any other case he would have felt sorry for the man, but at this moment he felt that Jiraiya deserved it for the way he was looking at Naruto when he was in his female form.

"Let's go," Naruto smiled as he turned to leave Konoha with his team members on either side and Jiraiya trailing slowly behind him.


	39. Chapter 39

Sasuke was not happy as they walked down the road to finding Lady Tsunade. The whole time Jiraiya had been bothering Naruto about showing him his sexy jutsu again and Sasuke kept having to fight the man off using only his glare because he knew that Naruto would get mad at him if he did anything physical like castrating Jiraiya just like he wanted to. Besides, he knew that they would need Jiraiya if they wanted to convince Tsunade to come with them to become the new hokage. So, instead of castrating the perverted old man, he was forced to stay near Naruto (he didn't mind that part so much) and glare at Jiraiya whenever he got too close without allowing Naruto to notice for a whole two days so far.

Sakura, on the other hand, was having a blast. She kept having to stifle her laughter every time Jiraiya got close to Naruto only to be scared away by Sasuke. It was hilarious and Naruto hadn't even noticed. Sometimes Sakura didn't understand how Naruto, the most perceptive person in the group, could possibly miss how Sasuke acts around him. Sometimes she even wondered if Naruto didn't actually miss it and knew of Sasuke's love, but didn't know how to tell him. However, that thought had been squashed once when Sakura had asked Naruto about something that Sasuke had done without telling Naruto and he looked genuinely confused.

Naruto was thoroughly oblivious. He really didn't care what was going on around him. He was just happy that he was going to be able to see Tsunade-baa-chan again. The woman had always been like a grandmother to him and she had even helped him become hokage in the future. He had missed her these past few years and, even though she wouldn't remember him, he was determined to get her to come back in some way.

"I think that we should stop here," said Jiraiya as he pointed to an inn on the road that was connected to a bath house.

"You just want to see the girls bathing," Naruto laughed.

"How dare you?" Jiraiya said with an insulted look on his face. "How dare you insult my research."

"You really should have stuck to novels," said Naruto. "I loved the one that you wrote about Naruto."

"I don't know what you are talking about," Jiraiya said.

"Of course you don't," Naruto smiled back. "It is getting dark. We actually should probably stop for the night."

"Good!" said Jiraiya excitedly. "I'll go get us rooms."

Naruto laughed. He never thought he would, but he missed his old sensei's perverted antics. Though he was one of those people that Naruto could only bare to be around for small doses without growing annoyed with the man. He hadn't yet gotten to the point where the man was starting to annoy him so he just continued to be amused by the pervert's ways.

Naruto walked up to Jiraiya when he was done getting the rooms only to have two room keys shoved in his hands as Jiraiya dashed into the inn.

"Three guesses where he's going," said Sakura.

Naruto laughed. "That's pervy sage for you," he said.

Sasuke said nothing. He was just glad that the perverted man would finally stop bothering Naruto about his sexy jutsu. If it had gone on much longer he would have been forced to take action even if it would make Naruto mad at him. He hated annoying people and Jiraiya was the most annoying person he had ever met.

"It seems that he only got us three rooms," Naruto said suddenly as he handed one of the keys to Sakura, "so it seems that Sasuke and I will be sharing." Not that it mattered much to either of them. They were used to sharing there sleeping quarters. They always shared a tent because Naruto never felt the need to get one and there had been several times when they had to share rooms.

Sasuke wasn't so happy about it though. Lately he had been getting so many urges to kiss the young teen whenever he was close to him and he knew that being in the same room would strengthen that desire. He wouldn't complain about it though, because he wanted to be in the same room as Naruto just as much as he didn't want to be. He would just have to control himself like he had always done for just a bit longer. "That's fine with me," he said.

"Good," Naruto smiled happily at him. "Let's go see how our room is and then I think that I'm going to take advantage of that hot spring.

"Are you not feeling well Naruto?" asked Sakura.

"I think I just slept weird last night," said Naruto. "My back and neck are killing me."

"It's because you didn't have a pillow Naruto," said Sakura. "I keep telling you to bring one, but you always forget."

"Don't worry about it," Naruto smiled again. "I'm sure the hot springs will soothe my muscles."

"You still need to start bringing a pillow with you," Sakura said,

Naruto just smiled and waved to her as he began to search for his room. Jiraiya had gotten rooms that weren't anywhere near each other so Sakura had to go in a completely different direction to find her own room.

Sasuke followed Naruto diligently. He hadn't even seen the key and had no clue where he was going, but he trusted that Naruto would get them to their room.

* * *

Naruto sighed as he sank into the hot water. It was already soothing the pain he had in his neck all day and it was relaxing every other muscle in his body. He hadn't wanted to admit it to the others, but he had actually been really tense before because he was nervous about talking to Lady Tsunade. Last time he had used his learning his father's jutsu to gain her respect, but now he didn't know what he was going to do.

"Are you feeling better now?" asked Sasuke as he walked out of the dressing room to join Naruto in the bath.

Naruto nodded without looking up for two reasons. The first being that he knew that the kink in his neck would be aggravated if he did and the second was that he knew that if he saw Sasuke's unbelievably hot sculpted body he would definitely blush.

Sasuke sank into the water behind Naruto and put his hands on the boy's shoulders. "Let me give you a massage," he said. Naruto nodded again slightly and Sasuke immediately began his ministrations. Naruto moaned. He hadn't even known how tense he was until Sasuke started to work at his muscles to loosen them up a bit.

They sat in silence as Naruto enjoyed his massage until Sasuke finally spoke. "You'll find a way," he said.

Naruto smiled. Sasuke always seemed to know what was bothering him and could usually fix it too. "I'm just a little worried," he said. "I don't want to fail."

"You won't fail," said Sasuke.

"But what if I do?" Naruto sighed.

"Then you will continue to try until you succeed," Sasuke answered. "You are a very stubborn person."

Naruto laughed at that. "You know Sasuke?" he said.

"Hmm?" asked Sasuke.

"You are the greatest friend I have ever met," Naruto smiled sleepily.

Sasuke frowned. He hated it when Naruto said the word friend when referring to him. Even if it was best friend. Whenever Naruto called him a friend it made it so that he could not pretend or hope for anything more. "I'm glad," he mumbled knowing that Naruto would expect a reply.

"You're supposed to say that I'm the greatest friend you've ever met too," Naruto pouted playfully even though Sasuke couldn't see him from behind.

"I don't know if I can." Even though Sasuke said the words playfully, they were actually truthful. He hated to say the word friend about Naruto just as much as he hated to hear it from Naruto about himself.

Naruto turned around and gave him his cutest puppy dog eyes that he could muster as he sat in Sasuke's lap and pushed himself against Sasuke's chest. "How cruel Sasuke. Have you replaced me? I'm so heartbroken."

Sasuke tensed at Naruto's closeness. He was acutely aware of the only thing separating them was the small towels that they wore around their waists and from this close he feel every dip and crevice that Naruto's skin made over his defined muscles. He leaned in close to Naruto's face so that their lips were almost touching as Naruto gave him a confused look and smirked as he stood suddenly.

Naruto, who was distracted by the closeness of Sasuke's face, tumbled into the water with a splash. "No fair Sasuke," he pouted as he came out of the water.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sasuke said innocently.

Naruto crossed his arms and pouted at Sasuke making him laugh.

"Come on Naruto," Sasuke said as he held his hand out for Naruto to grab it. "We should get out of the water before we turn into prunes."

"Alright," Naruto smiled as he took the offered hand and Sasuke pulled him up out of the water. "Hey!" he said suddenly. "You didn't answer my question."

"What question?" Sasuke asked.

"Have you replaced me?" Naruto asked again with a playful grin.

"Yes," Sasuke said sarcastically. "I found this boy with golden hair, tan skin, and sky blue eyes who is hyper, smart, strong, and loves his friends more than anything and I thought he would be a perfect replacement."

"You're making fun of me," Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"What gave you that idea?" Sasuke smirked.

"Meanie," Naruto stuck his tongue out.

"Thank you Naruto," Sasuke said, "for the compliment."

Naruto pouted and crossed his arms again as they both entered the changing room so that they could get dressed and enjoy a nice night of sleep in a comfortable bed before they had to return to their mission.


	40. Chapter 40

The next day, as they set off back onto the road, Naruto felt much better. He still felt a little nervous, but now he was confident that he was going to be able to do what he wanted. "How much longer are we going to have to go before we find grandma Tsunade?" Naruto asked without thinking about what he was saying.

"Grandma?" asked Jiraiya.

"Yea," Naruto said thinking quickly. "She's as old as you isn't she?"

Jiraiya laughed. "Yea, but you'll be surprised."

"How much longer?" asked Naruto again.

"I heard that she was in this next village that we're coming up to," answered Jiraiya.

"Where did you hear that?" asked Sakura.

"At the inn that we stayed in last night," answered Jiraiya.

"You mean we didn't just stay there so that you could look at naked women?" asked Sakura.

"No," said Jiraiya sounding somewhat insulted.

"But that was mainly why we stopped there," mumbled Sasuke. "The information gathering was probably just an afterthought."

"You guys think so little of me," pouted Jiraiya.

"That's because you give us so little to think about," Sakura laughed.

"Look!" Naruto said happily as he pointed in front of them. "The village."

"That's where Tsunade is," said Jiraiya.

* * *

Naruto was almost giddy as they approached the village he couldn't wait to talk to the woman that had been like a grandma to him.

They had to go through several gambling places before they finally came upon a very drunk Tsunade playing in a casino. Jiraiya was the only one allowed in his gambling place so he went inside to get the woman.

"How weird," said Sakura. "A gambling place that actually has standards."

"They can't have too many," said Sasuke. "If they let Tsunade-sama in their."

"Baa-chan isn't that bad," said Naruto.

"She hit like five other gambling places before she came to this one. She probably doesn't have any money."

"That's not true," Naruto said with a smile. "I bet she actually has a lot of money." Both Sakura and Sasuke gave him a weird look so he just continued. "She's goes on winning streaks before something bad happens. Last time we came to visit her she had won a whole bunch of money because she was just about to meet Orochimaru. It freaked her out. To tell you the truth, I bet that she has already met with Orochimaru and is now contemplating on whether or not she wants to join him as his new physician since he lost Kabuto."

"Why would she even consider?" asked Sakura.

"Orochimaru gave her a pretty enticing offer," answered Naruto. "He promised that if Tsunade joined him that he would help bring both her lover and her brother back to life. The whole promise is a lie and she knows it, but she wants to believe it so badly that she actually is starting to."

"I didn't even know that she had this struggle," said Sakura. "She never told me."

Naruto smiled. "She never told me either. I only found out when I was searching through her memories for something else."

"What were you looking for?" asked Sakura.

"I don't remember," Naruto shrugged with a smile.

"They're coming back," said Sasuke.

Naruto became jittery as he saw the three of them walking towards them. He didn't know what his was going to do when he saw baa-chan again. Sasuke saw his nerves and wrapped their hands together to comfort him. Naruto looked over at Sasuke and immediately calmed down. He was glad that he had Sasuke this time. He didn't know how he would ever be able to make it through this without him.

* * *

Jiraiya took them to a restaurant where both he and Lady Tsunade ordered lots of alchohol. Sakura was disgusted by how much they were drinking. She had always known that Lady Tsunade was an alchoholic, but she had never seen the woman that she looked up to drinking so much.

"Why are you here?" asked Tsunade as she took a big gulp of the sake.

"I've been looking for you all over the place," answered Jiraiya. "Should have known you would be gambling."

"It's like a reunion," muttered Tsunade after a few more gulps of her sake. "All the old faces coming back at the same time."

"You mean Orochimaru," said Jiraiya. "So what happened?"

Tsunade glanced over at her friend, a gesture that Naruto hadn't seen the first time they had this conversation with the older woman, and said, "Ah, nothing very much. We said hello. That's about it." She took out a deck of cards and began to shuffle before placing them down on the table so that Jiraiya could shuffle it himself. "Well then," she said. "Why have you been looking for me?

"I'll cut right to the chase," said Jiraiaya as he placed the deck back on the table. "Tsunade, in it's wisdom the village has come to the decision to name you as the fifth hokage."

Tsunade's hand twitched as she reached for the cards. Another gesture that Naruto hadn't noticed before. He wanted to smile at himself. He remembered being so confused about what Jiraiya had said about the woman being old that he hadn't really payed attention to anything either of them had said until Tsunade spoke ill of the hokage.

"You heard about the third hokage," said Jiraiya as he picked up the hand that Tsunade had delt to him.

"It was Orochimaru's doing, right?" said Tsunade. "I heard about it. In fact he told me himself."

"Hold on," said Sakura. She couldn't take it anymore. This wasn't the woman that she had always looked up to. This was someone totally different and she hated it. "He told you about everything and you're still talking about him like a friend. I can't believe you. I thought you were better than this!"

"Sakura," sighed Naruto as he placed a hand upon her own. "I'm sure she has a good reason."

"Who are these brats you have with you?" Lady Tsunade's eyes narrowed at the three of them.

Jiraiya chuckled. "This is Naruto Uzumaki and his friends Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha."

Tsunade's eyes widened as she continued to stare at them. Naruto could only assume that she knew that he was the container of the nine-tailed fox. To bad she didn't know that he really was the Kyuubi and not just its container.

"I'll say it once again," said Jiraiya. "The leaf village has chosen you to be the fifth hokage. So, what's your answer? Do you accept it Tsunade?"

"Impossible," said Lady Tsunade as she threw her whole hand away. "I decline."

"I remember you saying the same thing to me the very first time I asked you out," Jiraiya smiled, "but you have to do this. It has all been very well thought out by the council."

"The council can't control everything," Naruto said with a smile. "Sometimes things don't go exactly like the council wanted."

"You're slipping Jiraiya," said Tsunade. "This apprentice isn't at all like your last one. He's a fool with a big mouth. And he's funny looking too."

"Well," said Jiraiya. "To be fair, it'd be hard for anyone to measure up to that standard. The fourth hokage showed all the signs of becoming the greatest ninja in generations. Brimming with talent and natural abilities. Bright kid. Popular. And to top it off, nearly as handsome as his teacher."

"I have to agree with most of that," Sasuke spoke up this time. "Except for the handsome part. Naruto's dad was way more handsome than you. There's also one more thing that I want to say: Naruto is the strongest ninja that was ever born. Not even his dad could top his skills."

"Sasuke!" gasped Naruto. They didn't need to know that.

"You got guts to claim such a thing," said Tsunade. "Why don't you just prove it to me. Let's take this outside and you can show me all that so-called power."

"I refuse," Naruto said as he stood from his seat. "My power is not a show for you to enjoy, and I refuse to hurt anyone from my village because I actually believe in hokage just like your brother and your boyfriend did. You know what's the worst part about you renouncing being hokage and thinking that it's nothing but a fool's game? By doing that you are betraying every emotion that your loved ones had. You are destroying the whole reason that they died. It makes me wonder if you even love them at all."

"How dare you say that to me!" gasped Lady Tsunade. "I loved them." She paused for a moment before continuing. "How did you know all that anyway?"

"Because," answered Naruto. "Just like them, my goal is to be hokage. Remember this, to be hokage, that is my dream."

Tsunade gasped. "You are a fool," she said after a moment with a look of sadness. "You're head is full of false hopes if you think you can actually be hokage someday."

"Is that what you told your brother and your boyfriend?" asked Naruto.

"Watch what you say kid," growled Tsunade.

"If you don't believe me than let me prove to you that those two deserved to be Hokage no matter how much you think that their goals were false hopes," Naruto said. "I'll even make a bet with you since you like to gamble so much."

"What's that?" asked Tsunade. She was always ready for a bet.

"I bet you that I can prove that they deserved to be hokae. If I win than I get that necklace that you're wearing and if I lose than we will return to Konoha without you and you can have all this money." Naruto pulled out his frog wallet, which was stuffed to the brim with money.

"I accept," said Tsunade.

* * *

Yay for the next chapter. I'm sorry it took me so long to write this one, but I've been having a lot of trouble with this story lately. If you guys will be willing to hang on for the next few chapters I'm sure I'll get to the point that I won't have so many problems with it.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter.


	41. Chapter 41

"I accept," said Tsunade.

"Good," said Naruto as he quickly did a hand sign that neither Tsunade nor Jiraiya recognized. His eyes closed and he fell back only to be caught by Sasuke who lowered him carefully back into his seat.

Tsunade gasped as she felt herself being taken somewhere out of her own body. Her eyes widened, but she could see nothing around them.

* * *

"Where am I?" asked Tsunade as she looked at the room filled with empty desks that she stood in now. It looked suspiciously like one of the rooms in the ninja academy at Konoha. All of the rooms there looked alike, but for some reason she felt like this specific one meant something to her.

"We're at the ninja academy," answered Naruto. "This is the room that I had all of my classes in." Naruto smiled as he too looked at their surroundings. It felt like so long ago that he was in the ninja academy with Iruka trying to teach him.

"How did we get here?" asked Tsunade.

"We aren't actually here," answered Naruto. "This is just a memory."

"Why are we here?" asked Tsunade.

"I'm winning our bet," Naruto answered as a smile crossed his face.

"And how do you plan to do that with a memory of an empty classroom?" asked Lady Tsunade.

"There are many qualities that are required of someone who is worthy to become hokage," Naruto completely ignored Tsunade's question. "You have to be strong enough to take things that hurt you without any complaint."

As he said this the memory started to speed up and several of the students start to file into the room quickly. Tsunade actually recognized most of the kids there. She knew them from when Nawaki had first gone into school. She didn't understand. How did Naruto get a hold of this memory. He wasn't alive then and she had very few memories of inside the classroom that her brother was in. Maybe this was one of the few days that she did remember, she thought as she looked up at the board to see what day this actually was. She gasped when her eyes landed on the date written on the board. It was her brother's twelfth birthday. She bit her lip. It was the day before Nawaki died.

Suddenly the memory slowed down as the classroom door was slammed open. "It's my birthday!" Nawaki yelled from the door. Tsunade bit her lip even harder as tears pricked at her eyes. She hadn't been able to see her brother's exuberance in so long because she had blocked off any memories of him in favor of never having to suffer through the happy times that she knew she would never get.

"Who cares pipsqueak," laughed one of the other boys in the room.

"Shut up asshole," yelled Nawaki.

"What's that around your neck?" asked the girl who sat next to the boy that had spoken earlier. "Oh you got jewelry. What a girl." With this the entire classroom erupted into a fit of hysterical laughter.

Nawaki deflated slightly, but he still stared defiantly at the two bullies. "I'll have you know that this necklace belonged to the first hokage," he said proudly.

"Yea right," laughed the boy. "Like he would wear something so girly. You're just using it as an excuse so that you can act like a girl."

"Now now," said the teacher calmly as he walked into the classroom. "Go sit down Nawaki. Before I mark you as tardy." The memory sped up again and Tsunade growled.

"Who were those kids?" she growled.

"Their names are unimportant," Naruto said. "The only thing that you need to know about them is that they continually bullied Nawaki throughout all of his time in school."

"If he had told me than I would have knocked some sense into them so that they would never mess with my little brother again," said Tsunade.

Naruto laughed at that. "He was strong," he said, "and he could handle them on his own, which is exactly my point. I have showed you one of the qualities that your little brother has in common with a hokage."

"Just because he has a quality that a hokage could or could not have had, that doesn't mean that it was just a fools dream," said Tsunade.

"To be hokage you must be willing to put all others before you in every way. Even if that means that you must give up your desires, your love, and even your life." As Naruto said this the memory slowed down again as the door to the classroom slid open once more. Tsunade looked at the board to see that it was the very next day as the frantic looking man rushed up to the teacher and whispered into his ear.

The teacher's eyes widened and he turned to the students as the man rushed out of the room to move onto the next one. "Alright listen up," the teacher tried to say firmly, but his voice shook as he spoke. "We are evacuating the school. Stay calm and stay with me in a double file line."

The students quickly stood and followed their teacher's directions. Tsunade looked around and found her own brother at the end of the line. She followed him closely and noticed something that she never would have expected from her brother. He was shaking in fear with one hand clutching tightly to the necklace that she had given him.

"It gives him courage," Naruto said from beside her as they followed the line out of the school and on the pathway at the hokage monument.

"I was told that he rushed in," said Lady Tsunade.

"He was very frightened," answered Naruto.

"If he made it to the monument with all of the other students, than why is he dead?" asked Tsunade as her fists clenched. "He was safe here so why did he die at the school?"

"Look around," said Naruto. "Is there anyone that you notice is missing?"

Tsunade looked at the line in front of her and saw only students with fear written all over their faces. She didn't recognize any of them. She hadn't known any of them. But there was two people that she realized were nowhere to be seen. "The bullies?" she gasped. They weren't in line with the rest of the students. She remembered seeing them in the classroom, but now they were gone.

"In times like this," said Naruto, "where chaos and fear dictate our actions, people get left behind."

They reached the top of the monument and the teacher allowed the students to walk in one by one as he made sure that all of them were there. It didn't take him long to realize that there were two students missing. "Where are Konan and Koaru?" he asked suddenly hoping beyond all hope that he had not left two children behind at the school.

Nawaki's head jerked up and, before anyone could stop him, turned and dashed back down the side of the mountain. His teacher called after him, but he continued to run with Tsunade and Naruto close behind. When he reached the outer edge of the school he skidded to a halt and crouched low behind a bush. Tsunade's own ninja instincts made her crouch behind a bush as well as she realized that several of the enemy ninjas were already here. Naruto just remained standing and watched the two of them survey the area around them. He felt bad for showing her this, but he knew that she had to see it. Now is the best time anyway. Hopefully it would deter her from trying to get them back from Orochimaru in the future.

Grabbing the pendant around his neck one last time, Nawaki made a sudden dash for the nearest door into the school when no ninjas were close by. He was just barely able to slip through the school door and close it before any ninjas turned the corner and found him. From there he slowly crept through the school, looking for any form of life. It didn't seem like the ninjas were inside the school. Tsunade only hoped that was really the case and Nawaki only hoped that they hadn't already found the two.

Suddenly, a soft crying entered their ears and Nawaki turned a corner to find Koaru leaning over Konan trying to wake him up.

"They're twins," Naruto said suddenly. Tsunade nodded. She had figured that much since they looked so much alike and seemed to work so well together. "And they have been abused all of their lives." Tsunade looked over at Naruto in shock. She would never have guessed that. She hadn't noticed any of the signs of an abused child in them. "They only have each other so when he fell and got knocked out she stayed behind to try to wake him."

Nawaki crept up to her and silently crouched down next to her so that he could examine the boy and make sure he was still alive. He didn't know much about medical techniques, but he at least knew how to make sure that someone was alive. He reached out to check his pulse when Koaru threw herself on top of Konan and screamed. "You can't have him!"

"No," Nawaki said quietly trying to calm the girl before anyone heard them. "It's me. It's Nawaki."

Koaru slowly turned her head so that she was looking at Nawaki. "I couldn't leave him behind," she cried.

"I know," said Nawaki, "but now we have to get out of here before anyone comes."

"I'm not leaving him," she said.

"We aren't leaving him," Nawaki said as he moved forward and wrapped one of Konan's limp arms around his neck. Koaru did the same to the other side and they both lifted Konan up so that they could drag him with only his feet dragging on the floor. They didn't make it far before they heard someone coming towards them. Nawaki made a quick decision and turned them around so that they would be going deeper into the school.

"Where are we going?" asked Koaru.

"I don't think we'll be able to make it out of here with him unconscious," Nawaki answered.

"I'm not leaving him," said Koaru.

"I know," said Nawaki. "That's why we are going to hide."

"Won't they find us?" asked Koaru. She was still crying, but Tsunade noticed that she was trying to make an effort to stop. Nawaki's words weren't exactly helping her in this though.

"No," said Nawaki. "I have the perfect hiding place where I always go when I want to hid from people. I've never been found there."

"Are you sure we won't be found?" she asked. "Won't they sense our chakra?"

"Don't worry," said Nawaki as they turned the corner and found themselves at a dead end. Before Koaru could start freaking out again, Nawaki crouched down and pulled open a small door that was barely noticeable. He took Konan from her and said, "Get in."

She did as she was told and crawled into the small section in the wall and then turned to help Nawaki force Konan into the small space as well. "What about you?" she asked, but Nawaki only smiled and closed the door.

"Why isn't he going in too?" she asked as she watched him turn just as two ninja rounded the corner to find him.

"The crawl space is barely big enough for two," Naruto answered. "Let alone three people. He wouldn't have fit in there if he tried, and if he had tried he would have put their lives in danger as well. This way he is the only one who is in danger."

The enemy smirked as Nawaki pulled out a kunai. And they attacked him without mercy. Tsunade watched as they killed her only brother. Her body started to shake as the blood flowed from his lifeless body and her mind raced with thoughts of how much she wanted to kill those men who had killed her brother.

Suddenly, everything disappeared.

"Konan and Koaru were found the next day," Naruto said as she calmed down. "Konan had been unconscious and Koaru was suffering from aftershock so neither of them could tell anyone about Nawaki saving their lives. They became ANBU and lived their life everyday remembering that sacrifice that your brother took in order to save their lives. They died while on a mission together. They never left each other's side."

"Why did you show me that?" she asked.

"Because you needed to see it," Naruto answered. "You needed to know why your brother really died. You needed to know that he was a very strong young man and that his death wasn't in vain. You needed to know that your brother deserves respect from you instead of the constant thought that he died of stupid actions."

"I've always respected my brother," said Tsunade.

"But you have always thought that if he hadn't been so stupid and hadn't run into battle where he didn't belong, than he would still be alive today," said Naruto. "That may be true. If he hadn't been so brave to save others even at the cost of his own life, than he could possibly be alive right now, but those two that he saved would definitely have died. Your brother chose the lives of those two over his own and you need to respect that decision and stop living in the past."

"How would you know so much about me," said Tsunade. This boy was starting to freak her out. No one, not even Jiraiya and Orochimaru, knew that much about her. How could he know things that not even they could?

"I have seen people whom I consider to be family die," answered Naruto, "and I have asked myself if they would have survived if they hadn't thrown themselves into the situation that they died in. Sometimes I have even wished that they hadn't, but then I realize that, if they hadn't died when they did, so many other people would die in their place. People must die. It is the way of life, and though it seems cruel to us when we lose someone we truly care about we must also realize that those people who lived because of that one person's sacrifice will have loved ones that would have mourned their loss just as much as we have and would have thought the same thoughts that run through our heads."

"What would a child know of death?" asked Tsunade. There was no way that he would have encountered a loss as painful as hers had been.

"A child would know nothing of death," answered Naruto, "in a world filled with peace and tranquility, but this world has pain and destruction in it as well and so many children know plenty about death." He hoped that that would be a good enough answer. He really didn't want to try to think up an excuse as to why he had seen so much death while he was trying to find the next memory that he was searching for.

Tsunade nodded. She didn't quite accept that answer, but she was unwilling to press it farther because she could see a pain in Naruto's eyes that she could only remember seeing in her own eyes after Nawaki and Dan had died. Naruto knew of death, and she would accept that for now.

"Now we must move on," said Naruto as he pulled another memory around them. This time it was one of Tsunade's own memories. "A person who is going to become hokage must want to always do what is best for the people no matter what the price would be."

Tsunade watched her own memories of Dan as he talked about how he wanted to become hokage to protect Konoha flashed in front of her. She smiled as she remembered that he had been the only one that had supported her when she was trying to get that bill passed.

Then the memories stopped on a forest and Tsunade gasped as she recognized it as the one that Dan had died in. "A hokage must know when to stop his ninjas so that they won't hurt themselves in vain," she heard Naruto say behind her as she watched herself try to heal Dan.

"Come on," she was crying, but the wounds just wouldn't heal.

"You're running out of chakra," Dan coughed out some blood. "You need to stop."

"Not until I heal you," she tried to say.

"No," said Dan as he took one of her hands into his own and broke the contact she had with his chest. "You need to stop or you'll run out of chakra."

"No," she tried to pull her hand away from his to put it back on his chest, but his hand held fast around her own. "Please let me heal you," she cried.

Dan shook his head. He was quickly losing himself and he needed to say these words now before he couldn't say them anymore. "I love you," he said as his eye closed.

"No!" screamed the memory of Tsunade as she placed her hands back on his chest and tried to heal him.

Tsunade shook as she watched the scene. All of the pain that she had felt at that moment filled her body and tears rolled down her cheeks. She watched until the memory faded into nothingness and then turned to Naruto.

"The only way that you could have healed him is if you completely depleted your chakra supply and died yourself," Naruto said.

"I would have rather died and let him live," she said quietly.

"And your sentiment was shared," Naruto said. "There is another quality that they both possess that would make them great hokages that I want to show you, and it is the only quality that you lack."

"What is that?" asked Tsunade.

"They have to want to be hokage," said Naruto.

Three images appeared behind Naruto. The memories of her brother, Dan, and Naruto stood there as all three of them spoke. _"To be hokage, that is my dream."_

"And they must be willing to die to protect their village even if it means giving up that dream," Naruto said as he pulled out a kunai and slashed it across his wrist. Blood flowed out of his arm as the memory of Naruto disappeared and the other two memories morphed into their faces in their death. Tsunade shook as she looked at them, but even through the fog that the fear of blood was creating in her mind she noticed something that she had never seen before. All three of them were smiling.

* * *

i hope you enjoyed this chapter as well


	42. Chapter 42

Tsunade gasped and her body gave out a huge shiver when she returned to her body. She could hear Shizune trying to wake her up and Jiraiya demanding to know what was happening, but the only thing she could do was look over to Naruto's wrist. She couldn't see it though, because Naruto still hadn't woken up and his hands were in his lap where Sasuke had let them rest. She gave another shiver as Naruto's eyes blinked open and he pulled himself up from his slumped over position. In doing this he put both his hands on the table and Tsunade was relieved to see that there was no blood on him. Her body slowly calmed down and she was finally able to pay attention to what was going on around her.

"What the hell is going on here?" Jiraiya demanded again.

"I-I don't know," said Tsunade as she lifted her hand to her head to try to shake away the memory of so much blood.

"So did I win?" asked Naruto.

"What is that supposed to mean?" growled Jiraiya.

"Did I win our bet?" Naruto rephrased.

"What did you do?" asked Jiraiya.

"I just used a jutsu that I made up to show Tsunade why I think that her brother and boyfriend deserved to be hokage," Naruto answered.

"How did you do that?" asked Tsunade. "I don't have any of those memories. Did you accumulate the memories from other people?"

"Being the Kyuubi," Naruto paused and quickly rephrased his statement so that they wouldn't realize that he was now the Kyuubi. "Being connected to the Kyuubi has its perks. Nature likes to speak to me and tell me all its secrets. I can take the memories from nature. I don't need human memories."

"So then that jutsu?" asked Lady Tsunade.

"Is something only I can do," Naruto nodded his head. "You never answered my question. Did I win our bet?"

"I don't know," Tsunade said as she shook her head once again. "Just give me some time to think."

"Alright," Naruto agreed.

"We have to go anyway," Sakura said.

"It's getting late," Sasuke continued.

"We aren't just going to leave right now," growled Jiraiya. Naruto only smiled. He always knew that Jiraiya had a huge crush on Tsunade and the fact that Tsunade had just had a somewhat traumatic experience made him less eager to leave the woman even if she was in the care of Shizune. It was only too bad that he died in the future before he was able to tell her how he felt about her.

"You can stay here," Naruto said, "but the three of us are tired after our long journey and we would like to rest. We're just going to go to that hotel that we checked into earlier and sleep a bit. If you need us you can find us there." All three of them stood up and were about to leave the restaurant when Jiraiya stood up and grabbed Naruto's collar, lifting him up until he could no longer touch the ground.

"You aren't going anywhere until you explain to me what is going on," he growled.

Jiraiya only had Naruto in his grip for a moment before he found himself on the ground with his head held up by someone holding his hair and a kunai placed right in front of his throat. "Don't ever touch Naruto again," Sasuke growled in his ear softly.

"Sasuke!" Naruto gasped. "Get off of him. You're going to hurt him."

"Fine," Sasuke agreed reluctantly as he removed his kunai and let go of Jiraiya's head so suddenly that the man wasn't expecting it and his face slammed into the ground rather painfully. He got up off of Jiraiya and immediately stood in front of Naruto just in case the man tried anything else. Sakura joined him except she stood back a little more so that she was beside Naruto instead of in front of him.

"What the hell is going on?" Jiraiya growled as he stood up from the ground and faced the three of them. "The hokage told me to keep an eye on the three of you while we were on this mission because he suspected that there was something fishy about you guys, but this is just wrong. No first year genin should be this strong."

"We aren't just any first year genin," Naruto answered calmly. "I have the Kyuubi."

"I have the sharingan," Sasuke growled.

"And I'm stuck with these guys," Sakura said. She was trying to ease some of the tension of her two teammates and it seemed to have worked. At least for Naruto, but she had the feeling that nothing would work on Sasuke at the moment. He tended to get like that whenever Naruto was put in any sort of danger no matter how miniscule it was.

"That's so mean Sakura," Naruto whined. "You know you love us."

"No," Sakura said. "I love Ino. You guys are just the people I'm stuck with."

"You're so mean to us Sakura," Naruto whined again, but there was a bright smile on his face.

"Enough!" yelled Jiraiya. "You will explain to me what is going on or I will be forced to take you down."

"Is that what the hokage ordered?" Naruto asked. He seemed a little pained by the thought that the hokage would actually order their deaths. He thought that the hokage might understand them a little better than that, but it was a foolish hope.

"This was an order given by the council," Jiraiya said.

"Oh that makes more sense," Naruto smiled again. The council was always out to get him so he didn't feel so bad about them ordering his death.

"Now explain what is going on," Jiraiya growled.

"That's enough Jiraiya," Tsunade said from her seat.

"What!" yelled Jiraiya.

"Well we're just going to be going now," said Naruto. "You guys look like you want to be left alone so we're going to the hotel. Come and get us if you need anything." With that the three teammates from team seven left the restaurant before there could be any protests.

"Since when do we look like we need some time alone?" Jiraiya asked himself totally confused. Those words had immediately stopped all his anger as he pondered their meaning. Did Naruto know of his feelings for Tsunade? That couldn't be true. They had only known eachother for a couple of days and he had shown very well that he was a complete pervert.

"Jiraiya," Tsunade muttered.

"What is it?" Jiraiya asked as he slid back into his seat.

Shizune looked very worried and somewhat out of place as she sat with the two of them and she wondered if she should leave as well. "I'm going to go find a hotel for us Lady Tsunade," she said nervously. Tsunade only waved her off before looking back at Jiraiya. She left nervously, only hearing the first sentence that Tsunade spoke, but even that was enough to make her worry for Tsunade.

"He showed me their deaths," Tsunade said quietly.

"Who's deaths?" Jiraiya asked.

"Dan and my brother."

* * *

"Don't you think you went a little far?" asked Sakura. Her and Sasuke were in the room that the three teammates were going to share because there were only two vacancies and they all refused to sleep in the same room as the pervert sage. Naruto was taking a bath at the moment so she took the time to talk to Sasuke.

"No," Sasuke answered. She could tell by his one syllable answer that he was still slightly angry that Jiraiya had dared lay a threatening hand on Naruto. He truly did love Naruto with all of his heart.

"Sasuke," Sakura sighed. "You held a kunai to his neck. We're supposed to be keeping a low profile here and you aren't helping any."

"We aren't keeping a low profile anymore," Sasuke answered. "We can't. They know we're stronger than we let on and even if they didn't I will not hesitate to protect Naruto no matter who it is that's threatening him."

"Naruto can take care of himself Sasuke," Sakura said. "What will you do when the day comes that he doesn't want you to protect him?"

Sasuke tensed visibly and Sakura got the feeling that she hit a sore spot. "Then I will kill any enemy that remains."

"Sasuke," Sakura shook her head slowly. "You're too overprotective."

"I'm sorry, but I'd like to be able to have Naruto nearby while I still can," Sasuke growled.

"That doesn't make any sense Sasuke," Sakura tried to say. "Naruto's not going to leave you."

"You don't understand," Sasuke sighed.

"Then help me to understand," Sakura begged. "Help me understand why you and Naruto can't just live together happily for once in your life."

"I can't Sakura," Sasuke muttered. "I can't do that."

"Why not?" asked Sakura.

"Please don't ask me Sakura," Sasuke begged. "Please don't ever ask me that again."

Sakura was silent. She had never heard Sasuke sound so desperate before except for when Naruto died in the future. Something was truly wrong and she didn't understand it, but she would not force Sasuke to talk about it if he so desperately wanted to avoid it and she knew that Naruto probably wouldn't understand her even if she did ask. She would just have to wait and see what would happen between them, but that didn't mean that she was going to stop trying to get them together. No matter what the future held for them, they deserved to be together in the present.


	43. Chapter 43

The three teammates awoke the next morning to a loud knocking sound reverberating on the room. Sakura, who slept on one of the beds by herself while the other two shared a bed, was the first to get up and answer the door to reveal Shizune holding her stomach.

"Oh my gosh!" Sakura gasped as she helped the woman into the room so that she could take a seat. "Are you alright?" Sasuke immediately helped Sakura while Naruto watched on worriedly.

"It's Tsunade," she gasped.

"What's wrong with Tsunade?" asked Naruto.

"She went to go meet Orochimaru," Shizune answered. "I tried to stop her. I think she's going to join his side."

"Damn it," Naruto growled as he grabbed his weapon's pouch and placed it in its place. "We were supposed to have more time than this." He jumped out the window to where he knew Tsunade would be without even looking back to see if the others were following.

"Sakura," Sasuke said as he readied himself to follow Naruto. "You go tell Jiraiya about this." He only waited for Sakura to nod an affirmative before he took off to follow Naruto. He knew he wasn't going to be able to catch up to Naruto's inhumanly speed, but he didn't want to leave Naruto alone for any longer than was absolutely necessary. Even though Naruto could beat Orochimaru all by himself, Sasuke had the feeling that this wasn't going to be just as simple as that.

* * *

Sakura quickly pulled Shizune up so that she could take her to Jiraiya's room. She knew that Jiraiya would trust her right now so the only way for her to get him to listen to her was by using Shizune. Shizune went willingly because she thought that Jiraiya was the only man who could save her mentor. It wasn't true of course, but she had no way of knowing any better.

The whole walk was very slow because Sakura had to help Shizune the whole way. They even had to stop several times for Shizune to rest for a few minutes, but Sakura didn't care. She was in no hurry. She was actually hoping that by the time they got to where Tsunade was the whole battle would be over. That way Sasuke and Naruto could fight without any distraction of Jiraiya trying to join in. That definitely wasn't what they needed at them moment.

When they finally got to the room that Jiraiya was staying in, they found that he was passed out on his bed. Both of them could immediately tell that he had been drugged. Probably something to do with Tsunade. Shizune walked over and shook him awake as best she could.

"Wake up," she said.

"What?" Jiraiya said groggily as his eyes opened slowly. His mind was still very clouded by sleep and he only barely registered that it was Shizune who was shaking him awake. "What's wrong?"

"Tsunade-sama went to go see Orochimaru," Shizune said as she helped him sit up.

"What!" Jiraiya yelled even though he could barely do anything else.

"And Uchiha-san and Uzumaki-san went to look for her," she said.

"What!" Jiraiya yelled again. "We have to go find them."

"Not like that," said Sakura. "You can barely stand. You'll only get in there way."

"Look Sakura," Jiraiya growled. "I don't care how strong you think that you and your friends are. There is no way that you can beat Orochimaru on your own. Not even I can do that and I am one of the legendary sannin."

"I said not like that," Sakura said. "I can make a drug that will cancel out most of the affects of the one that Tsunade gave you, but it will take a moment."

"Since when have genin known anything about medical ninjutsu?" asked Jiriaya.

"Since I decided that my friends needed a medical nin by their sides," she said as she began to take the ingredients she would need out of the scroll that she always kept with her. This one was different from all the ones that all three of them carried to hold onto items. This one was made specifically to hold her medical supplies and nothing else.

"Fine," Jiraiya agreed unwillingly. He had no other choice. If he didn't take the medicine, then he would not be able to fight Orochimaru, and that could put everyone in danger.


	44. Chapter 44

By the time Sasuke arrived at the battlefield, there seemed to be a fight that had already started. Tsunade was injured, which meant that Naruto hadn't made it in time to save her, and shaking from her continuing fear of blood while Naruto stood before her getting ready to fight off their five enemies. That shocked Sasuke. They already killed Kabuto, so who were the other people? He looked closer at them as he slipped into a battle position and found that he recognized them as the people who helped him make the worst mistake of his life.

"_This isn't good," _Naruto said through their mind link.

"_What's wrong?" _Sasuke asked.

"_We can't kill Orochimaru right in front of Kimimaro until I break his loyalty for the man,"_ Naruto explained.

"_What does that mean?" _Sasuke asked. He was not liking where this was going. The original plan for breaking Kimimaro was by using Naruto's jutsu when there was no one else around, but now they were going to have to do it with one of their most powerful enemies standing before them.

"_It means that I have to get into Kimimaro's head and I need you to distract them while I look for the memories that I'm still missing."_

"_Alright Naruto," _Sasuke agreed even though he knew that this was going to be much harder than it was supposed to be. He was going to have to fight off Orochimaru and all of his henchmen while protecting both Naruto and Lady Tsunade without killing the two men who were going to be the biggest threat. _"But please hurry. I don't know how long I'll be able to hold them off."_

"_I will," _Naruto nodded before beginning to do a long set of hand signs.

Sasuke only waited a moment before he thrust himself forward to attack their two enemies. Normally he wouldn't have gone straight into battle without a plan unless any of the team was attacked first, but he knew that he needed to keep them as far away from Naruto as possible. He was only running for a couple of seconds before he was surrounded by the sound four. Kidomaru threw spider webs at him and he found himself trapped in Jirobu's large cave as Tayuya's illusions of demons danced around him.

"Damn it," Sasuke growled. He couldn't afford to be trapped here with his chakra being sucked out of him and every moment another one that Naruto could be hurt without Sasuke to protect him. "Damn it," he growled again as he allowed the sharingan to bleed into his eyes. He should have done that before he attacked, but he forgot so now he had to deal with escaping out of this mess that he got himself in. The first thing he had to concentrate on was getting the webs off of his body. Sasuke closed his eyes and allowed his chakra to flow through his body until he could feel it seeping through his skin. It was a lot harder than he would have originally expected, probably because Jirobu's cave was sucking out his chakra, but he was finally able to escape the webs. He reached into his pockets and found the pair of ear plugs that Naruto had insisted he keep inside his pockets just in case they ran into some other sound ninja and put them in his ears. If he couldn't hear the music that Tayuya played then he wouldn't see the illusions that she was creating. That didn't mean that she couldn't still control those demons of hers. Finally, Sasuke had to find a way to get out of the cave. Using his sharingan eyes, Sasuke looked around and found that the cave was actually lined with chakra which was weak to his right. He smirked as he created a chidori.

With a loud crash Sasuke was out of his trap and sprinting towards Orochimaru only to be blocked by Sakon and Ukon. "Get out of the way," he growled as he thrust the chidori into both of their hearts. He supposed it was actually a good thing that they got in the way because if they hadn't the chidori would probably be in Orochimaru's chest instead. He ducked as one of Kidomaru's yellow arrows flew by his head. This was going to be much harder than he would have liked for a situation like this. His only choice would be to kill the rest of the sound four before he was even able to battle Orochimaru and Kimimarou. It would have to be quick though because he didn't know how long before they would try to attack Naruto.

Another arrow flew past Sasuke's head as he ducked away from it and he turned and threw a kunai back in the direction that the arrow came from. Kidomaru dodged the kunai only to be hit by another kunai that Sasuke had thrown without him noticing. It wasn't a fatal wound, but it was damaging enough that he couldn't use his right arm. With a growl, Kidomaru spit a web towards Sasuke, but he saw it coming with his sharingan and was easily able to dodge it. With a growl, Sasuke sped forward as quickly as he could and thrust another kunai straight into Kidomaru's chest. This time he did not miss and the weapon was buried deep into his heart.

Sasuke only got a moment to recover himself before he felt the full force of Jirobu crashing into him. He was a thrown a ways away and was only just barely able to catch himself and land without being hurt, but he found that he was already being attacked by Tayuya's demons. "Damn it," he growled again as he dodged a rather painful looking attack. He needed to get rid of that flute next. And by next he meant immediately. The only problem was that he didn't have a clue where Tayuya was. He had lost sight of her the moment the cave had trapped him and had been unable to find her again. He dodged another attack from the demon and cursed. If only he had Naruto at that moment. Naruto would be able to find Tayuya by only the sound of her flute. Sasuke looked over to Naruto to see the boy standing completely still in front of Tsunade, but what worried him was that he was much closer to Naruto than he had thought. If he remained this close than Naruto would be put into his danger zone.

Sasuke jumped over the demon when it tried to attack him again and ran away from Naruto knowing that the demon would follow him. Unfortunately, he didn't realize that by doing that he also revealed his weakness to Orochimaru who had been watching him intently the whole time. Orochimaru smirked and began to conjure up his own chakra. He may not be able to use his hands, but he could still use his mouth. A snake made its way out of his throat and began coughing up his weapon of choice.

Sasuke looked around warily for a good hiding place for Tayuya to be in. He could see Jirobu standing in front of a rather large rock and he wondered for a moment why the man hadn't tried to attack him with the demons. Of course! Sasuke couldn't believe he had missed that. Tayuya must be hiding behind that rock and Jirobu was protecting her. Barely dodging another attack, Sasuke conjured up another chidori. This was his last one with all of the chakra that Jirobu had sucked out of him so he had to make this one count. With a chidori in one hand and a kunai in another, Sasuke ran as fast as his legs would take him so that his chidori went threw Jirobu and completely crumbled the rock behind him. He didn't give Tayuya the chance to try to defend herself as he thrust the kunai into her heart.

There was a scream behind him, one that Sasuke recognized belonging to Tsunade, and he turned to see Naruto standing there with a sword thrust through his chest as blood dripped out of his mouth.

* * *

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year too.


	45. Chapter 45

Naruto opened his eyes slowly to find himself lying on the hard floor of a long corridor. It wasn't dark but it wasn't light either and it wasn't cold, but it wasn't quite warm either. The whole corridor just seemed to be completely empty. The only things that made it look even remotely used were the several doors that lined the long passage way. Every door was exactly the same, but Naruto knew that what they lead to would be completely different. He sighed as he lifted himself up. He had to get moving now. He had no time to waste.

Naruto made his way to the first door. He knew that what he was looking for would definitely not be behind it, but he wanted to make sure that he was in the right place. The door was painted the same dull grey color that the rest of the hallway was painted. Just like all the other doors were painted. He couldn't help but feel the lack of any sort of emotion in this hallway. It was just neutral and he didn't like it.

Opening the door, Naruto found a room filled with snakes. At least he thought they were snakes. They were moving like snakes, but they weren't actually snakes at all. After looking closer at the creatures, Naruto realized that they were actually spinal cords. He smiled. That meant that he was in the right place. He was in Kimimaro's mind. Now the only thing he had to do was to find the memory that would show Kimimaro exactly who he was working for. That was easier said than done. Sealed memories were often hidden much deeper in the mind and Naruto didn't have much time to look for it. He closed the door and ran in the direction that he believed the memory would be. He could only hope that he was running in the right direction.

As Naruto ran down the corridor he continued to look around, hoping that something would change to give him a sign that he was nearing his target, but nothing ever did. He even had to stop a few times to make sure that he wasn't going in circles. Each time he stopped he found new forms of skeletal animal or structures, including birds made of ribcages and scorpions made of skeleton hands. The one thing that he couldn't find was a memory. There didn't seem to be any sort of recollection of any of Kimimaro's life inside of his own mind. But that wasn't right. No one could spend their whole life without any sort of memory. Even those who had amnesia would remember everything after their amnesia.

Finally, Naruto opened the door and was met with something different from what had been behind all the other doors. It was a cage. Not like the one that was in Naruto's mind, but it was small and a little boy sat inside of it crying. "That is fake," Naruto mumbled to himself. It was a fake memory, but at least it was something. Now the only thing he had to do was make his way through the fake memories in order to find the real ones. "Are you okay?" he said a little louder.

The young Kimimaro looked up at him with a slight amount of confusion and fear.

"Would you like to get out of there?" Naruto asked.

The child looked skeptical, but he nodded anyway.

Naruto walked into the room so that he was standing right in front of the cage. He put his hand between the bars so that the boy would be able to take it, but Kimimaro shied away from the foreign object in his cage. "I can get you out of here, but I need your help."

"My help?" he asked quietly.

"Yea," Naruto said with a smile. "The only way for me to get you out of here is for me to find a certain locked door. I was hoping that maybe you would know where it is."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kimimaro said nervously.

"I'm sure you've seen it," Naruto said. "You passed it on your way to this cage."

"I don't remember anything like that," Kimimaro shook his head.

"Please try to remember," Naruto said. "It is the only way for me to free you."

"I don't remember," Kimimaro said again.

"Okay," Naruto said with a reassuring smile. "Let's try something different then. Will you close your eyes for me?"

Kimimaro stared at Naruto. He didn't trust the man. Everyone who came to his cell always wanted to use or hurt him. They never wanted to free him.

"Just trust me," Naruto said. "I want to help you."

"Why?" asked Kimimaro.

"Because," Naruto said. "I don't think that anyone should be trapped in a place like this."

"I don't understand," Kimimaro said quietly.

"You don't have to understand," Naruto reassured. "You just have to trust that I will do everything that I can to get you out of here. Please close your eyes."

This time Kimimaro only nodded and did as he was told.

"Okay," Naruto said calmly. "Do you remember anything outside of this place?"

Kimimaro shook his head.

"I know it's hard," Naruto said, "but I need you to try and remember anything."

"I remember a long hall," Kimimaro said. "There's a man walking next to me. I can't see his face though."

"That's okay," Naruto said. He already knew who the man was. It was the bastard known as Orochimaru. "Is there anything else that you can remember?"

"I wanted to go back to where I came from," Kimimaro said, "but the man said that it was locked."

"Where did you come from?" Naruto asked. That was what he needed.

"I don't remember," Kimimaro frowned.

"That's okay," Naruto said. "Do you remember which direction you came from though?"

"It was that way," Kimimaro said as he pointed in the direction that Naruto had been heading in the first place. He opened his eyes and was met with Naruto's kind smile.

"Thank you," Naruto said as he stood. "That was all that I needed. Now I promise that I will get you out of here."

"Wait!" Kimimaro gasped. "You aren't leaving!"

"I don't want to," Naruto said, "but this is the only way for me to get you out of here. Just trust me okay."

"Will you come back?" Kimimaro asked.

"I'm sure we'll see each other again," Naruto reassured.

"Do you promise?" Kimimaro asked.

"I promise," Naruto said as he put his hand through the bars once more to give Kimimaro a pinky promise. This time Kimimaro didn't hesitate to take the offered hand and he looped his own pinky around Naruto's.

Naruto smiled once more before he turned to leave the room. He had to hurry. He didn't know how much longer Sasuke could hold their enemies back.

"There!" Naruto exclaimed when the door finally came into view at the very end of the long hallway. It looked like all of the other doors, but this one also had chains wrapped around it. There was no way that Naruto would be able to remove the chains. The only one who would be able to do that was Kimimaro himself.

Naruto focused his chakra and began to do a short series of hand signs. When he was done the older Kimimaro was materializing beside him.

"What?" Kimimaro gasped. He didn't know how he got from the field where he was fighting along side his master to some long hallway with the kid that had been in a trance ever since he had started the hand signs. "Who are you?" he growled as he tried to pull out a weapon only to find that there was none there. That was no matter though. He could just use his bones and this boy wouldn't know what hit him.

"My name is Naruto," Naruto said.

"Where did you take me?" Kimimaro asked.

"We're inside your mind," Naruto answered.

"My mind?" asked Kimimaro.

"That's right," Naruto nodded. "I want to show you something if that is okay with you."

"What do you want to show me?" asked Kimimaro. It was strange, but for some reason he felt that he could trust Naruto. It felt almost like he had met Naruto some time ago and had trusted him then, but he couldn't remember ever meeting him.

"It's behind this door," Naruto said as he pointed to the locked door. "I just need your help."

"It's locked," Kimimaro said.

"Yea," Naruto nodded, "but this is your mind. You can unlock it."

"I don't know," Kimimaro said skeptically.

"I promised to set you free from your cage Kimimaro," Naruto said, "but you have to be the one to open the door."

Kimimaro didn't know why, but he smiled at Naruto's words. Happy that the boy was keeping a promise that he didn't even remember making with the other. "What do I have to do?" asked Kimimaro.

Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but instead he gasped and clutched his stomach as though something had just stabbed him. He fell to his knees and began coughing.

"Are you okay?" Kimimaro asked.

"Open the door," Naruto gasped. "Please. I can't keep us here for much longer."

Kimimaro quickly turned, grabbed the door, and ripped it open chains and all. The first thing he felt was a breeze of warm air wafting over him. Then a house came into his view. His house, he remembered suddenly. The place where he lived with his mother.

"Kimimaro!" a woman, his mother he realized, called from the front door. Kimimaro was just about to step forward when a younger version of him raced past him. The boy looked ragged. Almost like he had been locked up in a cage for years, but when he passed through the door his whole appearance changed. He looked much more healthy and happy. "There you are," his mother smiled. "Did you have fun playing with your friends?"

"Yes mommy," the younger Kimimaro giggled. Kimimaro stood at the entrance of the door watching the event that he had never been able to remember until now.

"You should go in," Naruto coughed. Kimimaro looked over to him and realized that he was beginning to fade. He didn't want this to end. He wanted to remember everything that happened with his mother so he walked through the door that had kept his memories at bay for so long. His mind was suddenly bombarded with memories. Real memories. He remembered living in a warm home with his loving mother, instead of in a cold cage alone. He remembered everyone praising him for being so strong, instead of fearing his power. He remembered Orochimaru attacking his village and his family trying to protect them, instead of his family using him to try to take over the village. He remembered his mother running away with him when they were told to retreat, instead of being the only one to survive after killing all of the villagers. He remembered his mother taking him to the lake where she rested in the place of the beautiful flower. He remembered running off to get some twigs for a fire like his mother had asked him to only to return to find her missing. He remembered Orochimaru coming into the clearing with his mother's dead body instead of the flower that Orochimaru had given him in his fake memories. And, most of all, he remembered Orochimaru performing some sort of hand seal before everything went blank and he found himself in the clutches of the evil bastard that had killed his mother. Kimimaro clenched his fists painfully as Naruto's hold on the jutsu finally slipped and the two of them returned to their real bodies.


	46. Chapter 46

"No!" Tsunade screamed as she watched Orochimaru plunge the sword into Naruto's chest. Naruto was going to die, and it was all her fault. She couldn't save him. Just like she couldn't save the only two other men that she had ever loved. The men that Orochimaru had promised to return to her. The men that Naruto had proved deserved to be true Hokage's. The two men that she finally realized would never want her to sit there frozen like a log while yet another man who wanted to be Hokage was slaughtered right before her eyes. She wouldn't let that happen. Not again.

Tsunade pulled out a kunai and, with a scream, she thrust it towards Orochimaru's unprotected side. Orochimaru was only just barely able to back away from Naruto in time to avoid the attack and Naruto fell to the ground coughing up blood.

"That's such a shame," Orochimaru smirked. "He might have been useful to me in the future, but he was getting in the way of something I wanted."

"No," Tsunade gasped as she dropped herself next to Naruto who was gasping for any sort of breath that he could get. With one final cough he collapsed to the ground with his eyes closed. "No!" Tsunade screamed, frantically looking for a pulse. There was one, but it was weak.

"He won't be alive for very much longer," Orochimaru said. "I put some of my snake's poison on that sword."

"Bastard!" the voice was from a person that none of them expected. It was Kimimarou who spoke the words as he rushed forward to attack the man that had ruined his life so easily.

"What are you doing?" Orochimaru growled.

"Bastard!" was Kimimarou's only answer. He shot the tips of his left fingers at Orochimaru while he pulled his spine out of his back to use to hold Orochimaru still.

Sasuke took this chance to check if Naruto was okay. He ran over to the side of Naruto that Lady Tsunade wasn't already occupying. "I'm fine," Naruto gasped. "I'm fine."

Sasuke didn't believe him. He knew Naruto better than that. He was struggling to heal his heart with the poison keeping it damaged. "Let Tsunade help you," Sasuke pleaded.

Naruto nodded his head silently. He didn't really have a choice in the matter, after all. He knew that if he did say no then Sasuke would find a way to make him accept the help no matter what he would have to do. Naruto leaned over slightly so that he was leaning again Sasuke's chest and, though she frowned at the position that Naruto chose to put himself in, Lady Tsunade went to work without any sort of complaint. She wasn't going to let anyone else die under her watch.

"How is Kimimarou doing?" Naruto asked quietly.

"He's fine," Sasuke answered.

"You didn't even look," Naruto sighed.

Sasuke sighed and looked at the two men fighting. It looked like Kimimarou was injured, but not severely. Orochimaru, on the other hand, was barely holding his own. He was struggling with the wound that he had gained with the fight against Sasuke and the third Hokage, and he never thought that he would ever have to fight against his own right-hand man. He had taught Kimimarou everything that he knew, but now the man was turning against him.

"What are you doing?" he hissed as he dodged a particularly horrible looking attack.

"I'm going to kill you," Kimimarou answered. "I'm going to seek revenge for my mother."

"Your mother?" Orochimaru asked. "What are you talking about? You never knew your mother."

"That's a lie," Kimimarou screamed. "She was the woman who took care of me all my life. You killed her along with the rest of my clan and village."

"I would never do that," Orochimaru said. "I was the one who saved you from the village. Why would I kill your mother? She was already dead when I got to you. The village killed her because they wanted to lock you up."

Kimimarou hesitated for a moment. Could it be possible that it was actually Naruto that had planted memories in his mind and not Orochimaru? No. Naruto wouldn't have known that much about his past to be able to do something like that and Orochimaru had always been a manipulative bastard who always tried to get everything that he wanted no matter what the cost. Naruto didn't seem like that kind of a person and Naruto was the one that had released him from the prison that was in his own mind. He would fight for Naruto even until the death.

Kimimarou felt his chest tightening as he continued to battle Orochimaru. He had expected Orochimaru to be difficult, but not as difficult as he really was, and now he was getting the added problems of his own sickness reacting. "Damn it!" he hissed angrily. It was obvious that he was going to die today, but he wanted to at least take the bastard that had ruined his life with him. With a cough of blood, he continued to fight.

"Sasuke," Naruto looked at Sasuke as soon as he saw the slight hesitation that Kimimarou's body forced him to take.

"Right," Sasuke nodded as he slowly lowered Naruto to the ground. He was sure that Tsunade would be able to heal him with the help of the Kyuubi powers so he was okay with leaving him behind for now.

"_Sakura?" _Sasuke called out to there missing teammate as he charged into the battle to help Kimimarou. _"Where are you?"_

"_I'm almost there," _Sakura answered. _"What do you need?"_

"_Kimimarou's here," _Sasuke answered, _"and he's already starting to deteriorate."_

"_Got it," _Sakura said. _"I'll be there as soon as I can be. Try not to let him fight too much."_

"_You better get here fast," _Sasuke said, _"because he is determined to defeat Orochimaru."_

"_I'll be there as soon as I can," _Sakura said determinedly. _"How's Naruto? He always seems to get injured when I'm not around to heal him." _Sasuke almost laughed at that.

"_I resent that," _Naruto whined quietly.

"_You are hurt!" _Naruto could hear the frown in her voice.

"_I hate snake poison," _Naruto whined again, _"but I'll be fine. Just worry about Kimimarou."_

"_That's what I'm doing," _Sasuke answered. Naruto looked over at him and saw that he was doing a complex amount of seals. He recognized them.

"_You're going to do Amateratsu?" _he asked.

"_It's the only thing that I've got Naruto," _Sasuke sighed. _"I tried every other one of my jutsus last time and this is the only one that was actually able to kill him."_

"_But what if you miss," _Naruto frowned. _"You're only able to do so many of those. Even less than you were able to before because you don't have as much chakra as you did back then."_

"_It's all I've got," _Sasuke said.

Naruto didn't answer. Instead, he pressed his hands into the ground with his fingers stuck in the dirt. Sasuke opened his eyes and was getting ready to blow the fire at Orochimaru as best as he could when he saw a hand of chakra wrap around Orochimaru's confiscated body. He didn't have time to think about it. He just had to do the jutsu now. With one last large intake of breath, he blew a large ball of fire that was as hot as the sun itself, right at Orochimaru's struggling form. He could hear the screaming man as he attempted to get himself free even as the fire scorched every bit of his flesh, turned his bones to ash, and then disintegrated his very soul.

Orochimaru was finally dead. Sasuke sighed. Orochimaru was finally dead and that was one less threat the he had to worry about hurting Naruto. That was one more step to keeping Naruto safe.

* * *

finally. this chapter took me forever to write. sorry it took so long guys. i hope you like it.


	47. Chapter 47

"What were you thinking?" Sasuke growled as he turned to face Naruto. Naruto was wheezing where he lay. Usually the poison didn't affect him this much, but the large wound and the snake poison were separating his chakra's healing abilities and using the chakra on other things allowed the poison to spread even more. Tsunade was still working on his wound, but she couldn't do anything about the poison.

"I didn't want him to get away," Naruto wheezed.

"So you put yourself in danger," Sasuke growled. He could feel Sakura's chakra, along with two others, enter the field, but he didn't look at them. He was too busy examining Naruto to try to see if he could make out if the boy was okay. He couldn't tell, but that just frustrated him even more.

"I'll be fine," Naruto said as he reached out for Sasuke. Sasuke took his hand without even thinking and his whole body relaxed at the simple touch. "I'm just going to sleep for a while, and then I'll be fine." Naruto's eyes closed and his hand went slack, but Sasuke kept hold of it so that he could keep a finger over the pulse. Just to make sure that he was still alive.

* * *

Naruto woke in his hotel bed with a raging headache. He could tell that his fever was already starting to affect him because he felt dizzy and tired and hot and cold all at the same time. He groaned. He really hated being sick. It was so rare that he actually did get sick that it seemed to be that, when he actually did get sick, it was always much worse than other people's illnesses.

"How are you feeling?" Sakura asked as she removed a wet clothe from his forward and replaced it with another.

"I'm fine," Naruto groaned painfully. His throat really hurt.

"Here," Sasuke said as he pushed a glass of water in front of Naruto's face and Naruto drank it gratefully.

"Are you guys okay?" he asked.

"We're fine," Sakura assured him easily. "I wasn't even injured and Sasuke only sustained minor wounds. I've already healed him."

"Good," Naruto smiled slowly. "What about Kimimarou."

"It took a lot of convincing," Sakura said, "but I was finally able to see him. I did what I could, but I have no way of knowing if it will be enough. We're going to have to keep an eye on him for the time being."

"Okay," Naruto nodded as his eyes closed just slightly. He was really tired and he wanted to sleep off this sickness. He really hated being sick.

"Naruto," Sakura continued. "I don't think we're going to be able to keep it a secret much longer."

"Keep what a secret?" Naruto asked. He had to force his eyes open, but he could tell that this conversation was going to be important and he didn't want to miss any of it because he was half asleep.

"Us," Sakura answered.

"Us?" Naruto asked. His mind was not sticking with his brain at the moment.

"Let's talk about this later," Sasuke suggested. "Naruto needs to sleep."

"No," Naruto said. This was important. "What do you mean us?"

"Where we came from. Why we're so smart," Sakura answered. "They're starting to get suspicious."

"We can't tell them," Naruto shook his head. "We can't."

"He's right Sakura," Sasuke sighed. "If we tell them about us, they won't understand. They'll also try to pry for everything that we know about the future. If too many people know abut what is going to happen, it will all change and then we won't be able to keep track of it. We'll be working blind. Our whole reason for coming back would be invalid."

"But we've done enough already," Sakura tried. "We stopped Itachi from killing all of the Uchiha clan. We've stopped the village from being too badly damaged. We even destroyed Orochimaru and his henchman. What more is there to do?"

"Akatsuki," Naruto said shortly. He couldn't say anything more because his throat was so sore.

"But wouldn't it be better if the council knew that the Akatsuki is going to come," Sakura pressed. "They'll be ready for it."

"No," Naruto shook his head.

"If the council knows that the Akatsuki is coming, they'll be ready for the attack that we describe to them and then the attack probably wouldn't be the same," Sasuke elaborated.

"Then what do you want us to tell them?" Sakura asked. "It doesn't seem like their going to buy our story for much longer."

"We'll deal with it when it comes up," Sasuke answered. "For now, Naruto has to sleep."

Sakura looked over at Naruto to find that he was indeed sleeping. She probably shouldn't have brought it up in the first place, but she really needed to know. It had been really hard to convince Tsunade to let her anywhere near Kimimarou and the only way that she had been allowed to treat him was because she mentioned that Naruto had sent her. It seemed that Kimimarou already trusted Naruto.

"You know Sasuke," Sakura smiled sadly. "Naruto has a way of making everyone trust him immediately, but he acts like he can't trust anyone."

"He can trust us," Sasuke answered, "and that's all he needs."

"Yea," Sakura sighed, "but what if something happens and we aren't there? What will he do then?"

"Nothing will happen to Naruto," Sasuke said, "if I have anything to say about it." He leaned forward and ran his hand through Naruto's sweaty hair as a calm smile spread across his face. "I'll protect him for as long as he'll let me."

"Why do you keep saying things like that?" Sakura asked. "You make it sound like you and Naruto will be separated at some point."

"We can't be together forever," Sasuke answered as a frown replaced the fleeting smile.

"Well no," Sakura frowned too, "but you can stay together for as long as you both shall live. Naruto won't leave you if he knows that you love him."

"Sakura," Sasuke growled sternly. "I told you to stop bringing that up. I can't tell him so just leave it be."

"No," Sakura said resolutely. "I won't let the two of you go through life without being with each other. You love him. If you just tell him that, then you both will be happy. I want you to be happy."

"You don't know a thing about what's going to happen," Sasuke hissed. "You don't know a thing about us so just let it go and let us be happy as we are."

"But you aren't happy," Sakura pointed out. "You guys keep dancing around each other. You may be happy with the life that you're living now, but I want you to be as happy as I am with Ino."

"That's not going to happen Sakura," Sasuke sighed. "Just let it go."

"I don't understand you two," Sakura suddenly stood as she let her anger encompass her. "Why do you have to force yourselves to be unhappy for no reason?"

"That's right Sakura," Sasuke said tiredly. "You don't understand us so you won't know why we make the decisions that we make. We have our reasons. Please just let it go."

"I'll let it go for today," Sakura growled. She could tell that Sasuke was tired and there was no good reason to be fighting over Naruto's unconscious form. Besides, she needed to go check on Kimimarou. "I'll let it go for today, but don't think that I've dropped the subject." With that she stalked out of the room to go find her other patient.

Before she arrived at Kimimarou's room, Sakura had to stop and lean against the wall. What was she missing? Was there really a reason that Naruto and Sasuke denied themselves happiness? Or did they just think that the other didn't really like them that way? There had to be something, but why couldn't she see it? Why couldn't they just be happy?


	48. Chapter 48

They had to spend a whole week at the hotel waiting for Naruto to recover. And throughout that whole week, both Sasuke and Sakura had to keep dodging Tsunade and Jiraiya's attempts to get them to talk about themselves. They used taking care of Naruto and Kimimarou as their excuses, but Kimimarou was off of bed rest within the first day and Naruto had finally healed so now they were forced to face up to what they were avoiding. At least now they had Naruto with them. Naruto was the best at making up the stories and they hadn't really planned for this sort of thing. They probably should have. After all that they had done, there was no way that they were going to get away with not giving some sort of story, but they hadn't thought of it so they hadn't made one.

"Alright you three," Tsunade said when she and Jiraiya first saw Naruto out of bed and packing his stuff to go. "You are going to tell me what the hell is going on."

"Ok," Naruto said. "Just ask us whatever you like."

"Oh no," Tsunade said. "I'm not going to fall for that one. You are going to tell me everything there is to know about you three."

"Okay," Naruto shrugged as he sat on his bed with Sasuke and Sakura sat on either side of him. "But you're probably going to want to sit down somewhere. This'll be a long story."

"_Are you really going to tell them Naruto?" _Sakura asked suspiciously. Naruto had been much to against it to have suddenly changed his mind now.

"_No," _Naruto responded. _"Just let me do the talking and I'll hopefully be able to get their suspicions off of us."_

"_Alright Naruto," _Sakura frowned. _"Just be careful what you say. If you really don't want them to know about us, we have to be careful not to let them hear anything that can be construed as something that we would only know from the future."_

"Where should we start?" Naruto asked once everyone was seated. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were all seated on the bed and Tsunade and Jiraiya took the only two chairs in the room.

"Start at the beginning," Jiraiya said.

"We met in school," Naruto started easily. "We were very young, but we instantly became friends. All three of us where kind of the outcasts so it was easy for us to get along. Although, we did fight every now and again. From then on we continued to work together. We strengthened each other and encouraged each other to get better. Sakura found out about the medical ninjutsu and started spending her spare time trying to learn it. Sasuke and I were always getting hurt so she always had test subjects. Then Sasuke activated his sharingan eye earlier than anyone had expected. It was actually during a training routine with me. It wasn't great, but it was a start and he worked on that continuously until it got stronger and stronger. As for me, I accidently triggered the Kyuubi's chakra, which is actually the reason that Sasuke was forced to develop the sharingan so early. It was scary at first, but, once I had done a little more research on my seal and how to use the chakra, it didn't seem so scary anymore. I could control the chakra on my own. Of course, at the time, I didn't know how damaging it was for my body to be continuously exposed to the spirit's chakra. I did, however, realize that this must be the reason that the other kids seemed to fear me, so I made sure that I didn't use it in front of anyone else. All three of us graduated and were put into the same team, much to our delight. It was soon after that that I first talked to the Kyuubi."

"You can talk to it?" Jiraiya gasped. His pupil had never mentioned that the seal allowed the person to talk to it.

"Of course," Naruto answered. "He was actually our secret teacher while we continued to learn beyond what we should as genin. Kakashi was not happy with us when he realized that we were keeping our true strength away from him, but we didn't want people to know how strong we were because we were well aware of the questions that would be asked. Of course we knew that we couldn't avoid them forever, obviously, but we thought that we could at least delay them until it didn't seem so suspicious. Maybe when we were chunin. But then the tournament got interrupted and none of us were allowed to move up so we were now officially suspect. Anyway, in order to hide our true strength while still training to become stronger, the three of us had to train in secret. Unfortunately, since we didn't actually know how to control ourselves when we first graduated, our training sessions got increasingly more dangerous. One day, Sasuke accidently killed me." Sasuke winced at the mention of this, but he knew that, if Naruto mentioned it, it was probably important to their fake past. "That's how Sasuke gained his Mangekyou Sharingan. No matter how hard Sakura tried, she couldn't bring me back to life. But I wasn't really dead. Kyuubi brought me to his chambers to talk to him. When I got there, we were both exhausted and fading fast. I seemed to be fading a lot faster than him, though. He told me that, as I died, the seal was breaking and he would be allowed to take over my body. He also told me that he never had any intention of doing so. Apparently, when I first staring using his chakra as my own, he decided that I would be his successor. His powers would go to me when he died. The only problem was that I was dying on not him. He told me that he could save me if he gave up his own life, but that meant that I would have to become the Kyuubi at a very young age. Most people aren't forced to do that. He didn't give me much of a choice, though, because almost immediately after he told me all of this he died. He disappeared from my body and I was saved. Now I'm the Kyuubi. I haven't told anyone this yet because I was afraid that everyone would think that I'm a demon, but the truth is that I'm really just the protector of the land of fire. I'm supposed to outlive every human and I am supposed to die only when I find a good enough successor for me. Of course, there is the chance that I will die before that happens. I don't know what happens at that point."

At this point, both Tsunade and Jiraiya were completely speechless. They were trying to process all this information at once and it was not sticking to them as quickly as they would have liked. This whole story that Naruto had told them, though it made perfect sense and they did believe it, didn't seem like something that any child or teenager should have had to go through. It was almost sad that the three of them did have to go through it. And it was almost worrying that they seemed so nonchalant about all of it. How were they able to bear all that as children and still come out of it unscathed? It seemed almost impossible, but the three teenagers in front of them proved it to be possible.

"Did I miss anything?" Naruto cocked his head to the side and looked at Sasuke, who shook his head, and Sakura, who just shrugged.

"_That was really good Naruto," _Sakura praised despite herself. She still thought that it would have been better to just tell the truth, but at least what Naruto said sounded realistic enough that the three of them could build on it without to much suspicion arising towards them.

"_Thanks Sakura," _Naruto answered happily.

"And you got that strong without any help from anyone else?" Tsunade raised her brow.

"Yes," Naruto nodded. "Kyuubi helped us while he was still alive and then, after he died, pretty much all of his knowledge, not including his personal memories, were past onto me as his successor. Because of that I was able to help us continue to improve even after he died."

"Can you leave now," Sasuke said suddenly. Both Tsunade and Jiraiya looked over at him and they were actually shocked to see him somewhat tense. They hadn't noticed that before. "Now that you've forced us to divulge our private lives to you, you can have nothing more to demand from us and I must insist that you leave us alone."

Tsunade and Jiraiya he the decency to look chastised before the two of them agreed and left. They needed to be away from the amazing team for a while anyway so that they would be able to sort through everything that they were told.

"I'm sorry Sasuke," Naruto frowned when they left. "I know you don't like that story," and everyone knew which story Naruto was talking about, "but it was absolutely necessary to explain your mangekyou and my new job."

"I knew," Sasuke sighed. "I just wish that it had never happened."

"It doesn't matter now," Naruto gave a reassuring smile. "As long as the three of us are together, we'll save everyone."

"I know Naruto," Sasuke smiled back because he did know, but that didn't stop him from regretting what he had done all those years in the future. At least he wouldn't be doing that this time because he hadn't been stupid enough to follow Orochimaru. He was not going to repeat any of the stupid mistakes that he had made while with the snake man.


	49. Chapter 49

The trip home seemed to take a lot longer than the trip there. They didn't stop as many times and it still seemed like forever. Both Tsunade and Jiraiya were always watching them, waiting for them to make some sort of mistake that would prove their story to be untrue, while simultaneously dancing around them not sure what to do with the new information Naruto's story afforded them. Kimimaro, on the other hand wanted to look at every single thing that was around them. Sasuke couldn't blame him, knowing that the man had been kept in a medical coma for a long time, but it still did get kind of annoying to have to stop and wait every five minutes for the man to catch back up to them. Naruto didn't mind. He was actually enjoying the scenery too. It was only up until that point that he realized that he hadn't stopped to smell the roses in a really long time. Everything just seemed to be getting away from him. He needed this moment to enjoy his life while he still could.

When they finally returned to the village, the three in team seven were forced to explain their story to the Third Hokage before they were finally allowed to leave. Sakura immediately returned to her family, Naruto moved to show Kimimaro around the city before showing him to the mansion where he would now live, and Sasuke took the long way to his own home. It was nice to be back, but Sasuke couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to happen soon that would not be good.

* * *

"Hey sweetie," Mikoto smiled at Sasuke when he entered the house. "How was your mission?"

"Long," Sasuke sighed. He hadn't noticed how exhausted he really was until he sat on the couch right next to his mother.

"I'm sorry sweetie," Mikoto frowned. "Why don't I go and make you a glass of warm milk and then you can go and take a nap."

Sasuke smiled. No matter how old he got, his mother always seemed to be waiting to give him one of the childhood remedies. Warm milk was one thing that she always gave him before he went to bed and after he had a nightmare. Now it seemed to be the quickest way to get him to fall asleep. "Thanks mom," Sasuke smiled as he took the cup from her. He was already starting to feel drowsy.

* * *

"I'm home," Sakura called into her house. Almost immediately her crazy father came to greet her and her mother began to nag at her to put her shoes where they go. The nagging used to be much, worse but Sakura figured out that it was always better to just do what her mother said. After all, the woman was only looking out for her. "I think I'm going to go take a nap," she said as she walked to her room after her father's crazy welcome home hug was done, "this one really took it out of me."

* * *

"Is it really okay for me to stay here?" Kimimaro asked as they came upon the mansion.

"Of course," Naruto smiled. "I've already taken in a few people. I'm sure that you'll like them and that they'll like you."

"Thank you Naruto," Kimimaro said sincerely, "for everything."

"Of course," Naruto said again. "I will always help out my friends."

"Your friend?"

"Mmhm," Naruto nodded. "We're back," Naruto called into the house. He was almost immediately tackled by a very excited Kyusuke.

"How was your mission?" Kyusuke grinned even as he attempted to crush Naruto in his embrace.

"It was good," Naruto smiled and gestured to Kimimaro. "I brought someone home with me."

"Ooo," Kyusuke let go of Naruto in order to reach his hand out to Kimimaro. "My name's Kyusuke. What's yours?"

"It's nice to meet you Kyusuke," Kimimaro said as he took the much smaller hand into this own. "My name's Kimimaro." By now everyone was already in the room, including Gaara who was visiting, and Kimimaro took every joy in introducing them all to him.

"Now now," Irena said quietly. "What do you say?" She had been working hard to be like a mother for Kyusuke and it often times rubbed off on how she acted with everyone else but nobody really minded. Not even Zabuza and Gaara.

"Oh yea," Kyusuke realized. "Welcome home!"

Naruto smiled and Kimimaro jolted. It had been a very long time since he had been welcomed home. It made him feel so happy. Naruto was giving him everything.

"We're home," Naruto said.

Everyone talked for a bit and then they all sat down in the dining room, which had enough chairs for those that were there and more even though they made sure to all sit together with Naruto at the end. The meal that Irena made, with Kyusuke's help the boy reminded everyone with pride, was delicious. The chatter was just like that of a regular family. Kimimaro could not feel more at home. He went to his very comfortable bed that night as the happiest person he had been in a very long time.

* * *

Hey guys! Sorry about the short chapter. This was another one of those in-betweeners that didn't really go with the next chapter so I posted it separately.

Anyway, I'm very excited that this chapter officially marks the 100,000 words in this story. I know that this site has said it was at 100,000 for a while, but that was including AN and all that jazz so this is based off of my Word word count.

P.S. I realized that I hadn't really written about Sakura's family so I thought I would write a little scene with her too, but I was working off of the little I knew about her family from one of the Naruto movies so that's why its so short. I'm sorry about that.


	50. Chapter 50

A week passed with no sort of mission for any of team seven. They were practically put on a suspension while Lady Tsunade went through everything required for being Hokage and then spoke with the Third about how strange Team Seven was. They talked privately about whether or not they should even allow any of the three out of the custody of an ANBU since they seemed to have much more power than they really should, but they finally came to the conclusion that they should just leave them be to do what they had to while keeping a close eye on them to figure out what they were doing. It was obvious to both Hokages that the three were up to something, but so far it had only been helpful to the village so they could think of no other reason to keep them detained.

A week passed and team seven was excited to be at the bridge waiting for their ever late sensei so that they could finally get the mission that they had been promised the day before.

"I wonder what our mission is going to be," Naruto said with a smile as he sat next to Sasuke with his legs dangling over the ledge of the bridge. Sasuke looked over at him as he sat with his back up against the railing and his legs crossed on top of the bridge. Sakura was a little ways off flirting with her girlfriend.

"Didn't you have any missions after I left?" Sasuke raised a brow.

"We did," Naruto nodded, "but I went off to train with Jiraiya and Sakura stayed to train with Tsunade so we didn't really do anything together for a few years."

"I guess that's true," Sasuke nodded.

Suddenly Kakashi appeared on the other side of the bridge rubbing his head as he apologized about being late.

"You're late!" Naruto pointed out as he stood and turned to face the man. Sakura usually would have joined in with his complaint, but she was having too much fun talking to Ino to be bothered by it.

"I got lost on the road of life," Kakashi said.

"Of course you did," Naruto rolled his eyes. "Can we go get our mission now?"

"Yes. Yes," Kakashi rolled his eyes. "You are ever eager aren't you?"

"Of course!" Naruto said enthusiastically.

* * *

"We've come for our mission," Kakashi said when they were allowed to enter the Hokage office.

"Right," Lady Tsunade sighed. This job was actually a lot harder than she had originally thought it would be. "This is a C-Rank mission," she announced as she pulled out a certain file. "We know you guys are stronger than genin, but you are still genin so we won't give you anything more than this."

"Whatever," Sasuke grumbled.

"Thank you," Sakura smiled.

Naruto said nothing because he was too busy trying to peer over Kakashi's shoulder as he opened the folder.

"Rich young woman have been disappearing from a city nearby," Tsunade explained.

"Is it ghosts?" Naruto's eyes widened. Even through out his many years, Naruto had never been able to truly conquer his fear of ghosts. They always creeped him out even though everyone kept telling him that they won't real.

"There's no such thing as ghosts," Sasuke wrapped his hand around Naruto's knowing full well that the nickname would at least get Naruto's mind off of his biggest fear.

"No," Tsunade shook her head with a smirk on her face from the suggestion. "There's someone kidnapping the ladies. The local authorities have been unable to catch the guy so they asked for our help. Your mission is to go undercover. Sasuke's name is known all over fire country so he'll go by himself, but we need one of you to go as his wife while the two of you are on your honeymoon."

"I vote Naruto," Sakura said immediately.

"But I'm not a girl," Naruto answered skeptically.

"Oh come on," Sakura smiled. "You can totally pull it off. Besides, I'm with Ino and it would just be totally weird for me to pretend to be married to a guy."

"You did it all the time before," Naruto countered.

"I already voted for it to be you," Sakura said. "Besides, I'm going to be your personal bodyguard and you need a girl to do that."

"Fine," Naruto pouted. Sasuke smirked. He was really going to like this mission.

* * *

This is another in between chapter. Sorry about that guys.

I do want to mention that, from this chapter on, I will no longer be sticking to the Naruto storyline so now it's going to be all my own. I hope you guys enjoy it to the very end.


	51. Chapter 51

"Why can't I just be the body guard?" Naruto asked as he and Sakura made their way to his mansion. He had been going through his mansion more and had found several beautiful kimonos for him to wear while they were out. Sasuke and Kakashi were going to meet them at the gates later.

"Because," Sakura though fast, "You can't have a male bodyguard following a female around. How would he protect her if she went to the bathroom?"

"I guess," Naruto nodded. Sometimes Sakura thought that Naruto was a little too easy to fool, but then she always reminded herself that Naruto trusted very few people to get close enough to fool him so it didn't really matter. "I guess I can just use my Sexy no Jutsu anyway."

"No!" Sakura answered immediately.

"What?" Naruto asked. "Why not?"

"We don't know if our target has any abilities to see through jutsus like that. It would ruin the whole mission if you were caught using a jutsu to make you look like a girl." Not to mention the fact that Sasuke is so not attracted to Naruto's Sexy no Jutsu and if she allowed him to go like that it would be harder for her to get them together.

"Then what am I supposed to do?" Naruto frowned.

"Don't worry," Sakura smiled wickedly. "I'm going to use my magic to make you look like a girl."

And she did. Within ten minutes, she had separated the long strip of hair that Naruto had been letting grow out ever since they came back into time until they finished their mission into low pigtails while she let the rest of the short strands fly freely on their own. The long hair was down to his waist and the small pigtails rest easily against his shoulder as a contrast against his tan skin.

"Don't you think that this hairstyle is kind of weird?" Naruto asked as he looked at himself in the mirror.

"Nonsense," Sakura smiled. "Those crazy hairstyles are all the rage now-a-days."

"You don't have a hairstyle like this," Naruto pointed out even as he played with his pigtails.

"It wouldn't suit me," Sakura said flippantly, "but it looks really good on you. Now sit still and let me do your make up. Just to let you know, we're going to have to get rid of your scars." Which she wasn't really happy about. The whisker marks were part of what made Naruto look so cute in everyone's opinion, but it was also what point him out as Naruto Uzumaki all over the place. She would just have to show off everything else about Naruto to get Sasuke's attention.

The make up took about another 20 minutes to get done. She made sure not to put too much on, though. Naruto was much more attractive when he wasn't caked in make up. She only put enough on to make him look more feminine and to bring his bright blue eyes to the forefront. Then she and Naruto took 40 minutes packing the kimonos carefully so that they wouldn't get ruined. And last, but not least, Sakura helped Naruto pull on a pure whit kimono.

The kimono was beautiful. It was a plain white, but it made up for that with a lovely light blue ribbon tied around his waist. She made sure to pull the kimono up just enough that it looked like Naruto had boobs, but not enough to make it obvious that it was just the folds of the dress. This also made the shoulders of the kimono slip down his arms to reveal as much as his chest as possible without it being completely inappropriate. It also allowed Naruto's blue necklace, which wouldn't be recognized by anyone who didn't know Lady Tsunade or Naruto, to shine in the light.

"Why am I wearing this one?" Naruto asked.

"Because," Sakura smiled as she put the perfecting touches on the kimono. "You guys are supposed to be starting your honeymoon right after your wedding. This is your wedding kimono."

"Oh," Naruto blushed as he played with the sleeves nervously. "Do I look good?"

"Of course you do Naruto," Sakura smiled. "I'm sure that Sasuke won't be able to keep his eyes off of you."

"Yea because I look so weird," Naruto said, but his blush got brighter.

"It's time to go," Sakura said. "Come on." She had to get ready to go too.

* * *

Sasuke paced back and forth as he waited for Naruto to arrive. He knew that what he was getting ready to do wouldn't really mean anything when this whole mission was over, but it still made him really nervous. Questions that didn't even matter were going through his head. Would Naruto not accept it? Would he be disgusted? What if he didn't like it? It's just a mission, he kept telling himself angrily, get ahold of yourself.

"You're going to get dirt all over you shoes," Kakashi said. He was standing next to the carriage that was waiting to take them to their destination wearing a black suit; they didn't want anyone to know that the two of them were being protected by ninjas. He also wore a medical mask over his face and sunglasses.

"I don't care," Sasuke said, but he stopped and stood next to Kakashi in his own traditional dark blue Yukata.

"We're here!" Sakura called out to them as she walked over in her own black suit and sunglasses, though she was wearing the medical mask.

Sasuke couldn't help but stare as Naruto followed behind her. He looked like a female, but he still looked like himself at the same time. Sasuke would have to commend Sakura on her skills at a later time when Naruto wouldn't get offended by the comment. He did miss the cute whisker marks that adorned Naruto's face on a regular basis, but he agreed that they would be too recognizable.

"You look gorgeous," Sasuke blurted out before he could stop himself.

"Um," Naruto's blush got even darker, "thanks."

"I have something for you," Sasuke shook himself. He needed to do this now before he lost his nerve. He took out a small velvet box and handed it to Naruto.

"What is it?" Naruto asked even as he opened the box.

"It's your wedding ring," Sasuke responded. "It's a family heirloom and has been passed down through the Uchiha line for quite some time."

The ring was beautiful in its simplicity. It was a simple golden band with a single diamond placed in the center. But the main beauty was the carving on the inside. Forever and Always, it read.

"It's beautiful," Naruto said as he stared at it still inside the box. "You should really just give this to whoever you love."

"We want it to be realistic," Sakura said before anyone else could comment. "If it's a family heirloom than all of the family has to wear it."

"I guess that's true," Naruto nodded. He had to admit, though he would only do so to himself, that he really wanted to wear the ring himself. "I promise to be careful with it."

"Thank you," Sasuke smiled and he wasn't sure if he was talking to Naruto or Sakura. He plucked the ring from the box, slipped in on Naruto's ring finger, and then bent over to kiss it in a sign of affection that he would probably never show anyone else. Naruto's blush returned.


	52. Chapter 52

This is just a real quick author's note to all of my guest reviewers. I love you all and I just wanted to let you know that since I am unable to respond to your guys's reviews like I usually do. Thank you for all of your reviews.

All of my reviewers are just amazing and I love each and every one of my readers too.

* * *

"You really don't have to do this you know," Naruto said as he carefully examined the ring on his finger. Both he and Sasuke sat inside the carriage as it took them to their destination while Sakura and Kakashi sat in front controlling the horses that were carrying them.

Sasuke, being on Naruto's right side, wrapped his left arm around him so that he could capture Naruto's hand in his own. His half of their rings lay next to Naruto's as a plain gold ring that had the same carving on the inside, though Sasuke would never tell him that. "You're my wife now," Sasuke held up their hands so that both of them could see it. He knew he was pressing this a little farther than it really needed to be, especially since they weren't even in the city yet, but his was enjoying being this intimate with Naruto and his was going to make the most of this chance. "And I'll only give the best to my wife."

Naruto blushed once again. He almost cursed himself, he was finally getting rid of that blush, but he didn't because he was enjoying the intimacy just as much as Sasuke was. He moved slightly so that he could lean his back against Sasuke's side with Sasuke's arm still wrapped around him and began playing with the man's hand. It was an action brought on by complete boredom, but it still made both of them happier than they would ever admit to.

"Ah!" Naruto suddenly shouted once a thought occurred to him. "I don't have a name."

"Hmm," Sasuke thought for a moment. It was true that they really couldn't use Naruto's name. Even if it weren't so popular from the Naruto Bridge, it was still too much like a boy's name for any girl to have. "How about Namiko?" he suggested.

"How'd you come up with that?" Naruto asked curiously, but he went back to playing with Sasuke's hand so it was obvious that he didn't dislike the name.

"It's a mix of Naruto and Namikaze," Sasuke shrugged strong enough that Naruto would be able to feel it, but lightly enough that he wouldn't shake the man off of him.

"Uchiha Namiko," Naruto said thoughtfully. "I like it."

"Good," Sasuke smiled. He was happy enough that Naruto liked the name that he had given him, but he was even happier to replace Uchiha Namiko with Uchiha Naruto in silence. He thought that it sounded much better than Uchiha Namiko anyway.

* * *

"We're here," Sakura announced as she opened the door on Sasuke's side of the carriage almost an hour later. She bowed as Sasuke stepped out and then turned to offer his hand to help Naruto out as well. "Uchiha-sama," she said respectfully. Naruto couldn't suppress the wide grin that settled on his face at being called that. Sasuke also smiled at the address as he wrapped his arm around Naruto to hold him as close as he could while still being able to walk.

The village was actually very large and there were several tourist attractions that were made especially for couples. It was already running into late night, but their were still couples mulling about outside. The team was actually told that this was a favorite spot for many people to go to on their honeymoon. That's probably why there's no shortage of rich women for the kidnapper to take.

"Right this way," Kakashi said respectfully before coughing. He had to have a good reason to be wearing a medical mask so he figured that he would just pretend to be sick. Besides, the attacker would probably be more likely to target them if he knew that one of the guards wasn't at his best. He left Sakura with the bags, watching as a bellman walked up to her to help her carry them to their room, and escorted both Naruto and Sasuke up to the most expensive honeymoon sweet.

"Wow!" Naruto gasped as they entered the room. It was beautiful. He had never been in such an expensive hotel before and this one was decorated beautifully. There were even several bouquets of roses set in places where they would not be too much for the room and that was just the piece of it that could be seen when first walking into the room. There was a door off to the right that probably hid the bedroom from view.

"I'll just be outside," Kakashi said. "We'll bring your stuff in once it get's here."

"Can we look at the bedroom?" Naruto looked up at Sasuke with eager eyes.

Sasuke so had to suppress himself from making fun of that comment. "All right," he said as he walked the two of them over to the door, but then he stopped.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked.

Before he said anything, Sasuke crouched down and lifted Naruto off of his feet bridal style. Naruto squealed in shock and wrapped his arms around Sasuke's neck so that he wouldn't fall. "It's tradition," Sasuke said as he opened the door, "for the groom to carry the bride into the bedroom on their first night." And so he carried Naruto into the room and placed him carefully on the bed. There were rose petals all over the bed and Naruto grabbed one to play with in the hopes that it would make his deep blush diminish.

"You know Sasuke," Naruto said with a yawn once he finally got his blush to go away and allowed himself to collapse on the bed. "I'm really happy that I get to be your wife."

"I am too," Sasuke replied. He wanted to say I love you, but the words wouldn't come out of his mouth so he chose the best ones that he could think of that would.

* * *

"Where are we sleeping?" Sakura asked once she and Kakashi had gotten all of their bags into the room.

"We'll be sleeping on the couches," Kakashi said.

Sakura looked at the two couches disdainfully. It made sense that they wouldn't leave the room that Naruto and Sasuke were staying in, but she really wasn't looking forward to sleeping on a couch.

"They pull out," Kakashi said before she could complain about it. And, just to prove it, he went to the first couch and pulled it out so that it revealed a bed.

"Oh," Sakura said. "I guess they would think about their rich customers who have body guards." There was a moment of silence between them before she spoke again. "Do you think that this is actually going to be okay?"

"What do you mean?" Kakashi responded.

"I mean," Sakura said. "We kind of just forced Naruto into the role of Sasuke's wife. Do you think the two of them will be okay?"

"I'm sure they'll be fine," Kakashi nodded as he lay down on the bed he just pulled out and started reading his favorite book, Icha Icha Paradise. "And all of the great stories end like this."

"First of all," Sakura sighed in annoyance, but she was happy that Kakashi was finally starting to trust them enough to take out his book, "those perverted books are not stories. And second of all, our lives aren't exactly good stories either."


	53. Chapter 53

Sasuke awoke the next morning to find Naruto snuggled up against him with his long golden hair cascading behind him. They had both changed into their pajamas, Sasuke in a pair of silken pants and Naruto in a shirt that was to big for him but long enough to just cover everything, albeit separately and gotten into bed together. It all seemed so natural to them. Neither of them even felt embarrassed by the fact that they would be sleeping so close when they both had little on.

Sasuke took this moment to take a deep breath and smell Naruto's scent. It was rare that he got to sleep in the same bed as Naruto, though it did happen occasionally for various reasons, so he never got to feel this close to the boy before. It was easier to show affection when Naruto wasn't actually awake to receive it.

Naruto mumbled something in his sleep as he snuggled deeper into Sasuke's chest and he recognized the sign of Naruto waking up, but he refused to move. They were supposed to be married after all. He didn't have to move when they were married.

"Good morning," Sasuke whispered as Naruto's eyes slowly flickered open.

"Morning," Naruto mumbled, but his eyes closed and he buried himself further into Sasuke in an attempt to block out the sun.

"We do have to get at up some point my lovely wife," Sasuke smirked. He would have much rather said husband, but the affect was the same either way.

"I don't want to get up," Naruto grumbled, but he shifted so that he could look at Sasuke again. He didn't blush because of Sasuke's comment, but that was only because his groggy mind was refusing to make all the connections that it should be making. "Can't we spend all day in bed?"

"No," Sasuke laughed. "We have some people that we need to be finding."

Naruto pouted, but sat up in the bed and looked around. "But this bed is so comfortable," he whined even as he slipped his feet out from under the covers.

Sasuke smirked and stood up from the bed as he watched Naruto's bare legs appear out in the open.

"I'm hungry Sasuke," Naruto stated as he stretched, his shirt rising up just enough to show the edge of his underwear.

"How about we go out to eat," Sasuke replied. "I'm sure there are some really good places around here."

"Okay," Naruto agreed with a smile. He was still a little out of it from his sleep, but he was starting to come back to himself. Suddenly everything that had happened in the room up to that point came back to him and he blushed. He hadn't even realized that they were already acting like so much of a married couple and they weren't even in the eye of anyone.

"I'll go get Sakura to help you get dressed," Sasuke said as he turned away so that Naruto wouldn't be able to see the very contented smile on his face. He was going to enjoy this mission very much.

"Okay," Naruto nodded as he watched Sasuke's bare back walk away from him. The muscular frame was definitely a nice view for Naruto. He was really going to enjoy this mission.

* * *

"Sakura," Sasuke came out of his room to find both Sakura and Kakashi already up.

"Well hello there Uchiha-sama," Sakura gave him a little smirk of her own and Sasuke wondered what was so funny. "Did you have a good sleep?"

"Of course," Sasuke replied, but the he caught sight of the clock on one of the walls. It was 12:01. Neither he nor Naruto had ever been able to sleep past 7 o'clock. "I slept very well," he said contentedly. Naruto always did make him sleep better and holding him in his arms must have been just too good to ruin by waking up early. "But now my beloved wife is hungry and she needs someone to help her get dressed."

"Oh," Sakura giggled. "I'll go help _her._"

"Thank you Sakura," Sasuke grinned.

"I would have been happy to help too," Kakashi said nonchalantly from his place on the couch reading Icha Icha Paradise.

"I'm not letting you anywhere near my wife when you're always looking at such perverted books," Sasuke smirked as he sat down too.

"Aren't you going to get dressed?" Kakashi raised a brow at Sasuke's bare chest and silken pajama bottoms.

"Once Naruto's done," Sasuke shrugged.

"Why not go now," Kakashi asked. "It's not like he has anything that you haven't seen before."

"Because Kakashi-sensei," Sasuke replied. "I actually respect people's privacy."

"Your loss," Kakashi shrugged as he turned back to his book.

* * *

"Naruto?" Sakura asked as she entered the room.

"I'm right here," Naruto replied as he exited the bathroom with a sky blue kimono hanging off his shoulders. "I'm horrible at putting these things on by myself."

"You're not supposed to put them on by yourself," Sakura giggled as she moved over to help him fix the kimono. "You're supposed to have someone help you. But that's why I'm here isn't it?"

"I thought you were here to be my body guard," Naruto joked.

"Oh," Sakura smiled, "and who says I can't be both."

"I guess that no one did," Naruto shrugged after a moment of pretend deep thought.

"That's what I thought," Sakura said in a mock know-it-all tone. "Raise your arms please."

"Why do these sleeves have to be so long?" Naruto asked as he lifted his arms. The cuffs of the sleeves were so big that they almost reached the ground when he had his arms at his side.

"Oh shush," Sakura giggled as she wrapped the black bow around his waist. This time she made sure to tie it in a way that the top was still the same, but the bottom would open to show off Naruto's legs whenever he walked. "It looks good on you," she said once she was done. "Now I just have to do your hair and make up."

"Okay," Naruto nodded as he sat down on the chair provided to them in the room.

Sakura went to work immediately she did the same thing with the make up, though tweaking it a bit so that it fit the blue kimono better, but decided that something different had to be done with Naruto's hair. She put gel in it and began to work it until there were no more spikes remaining. Instead, the short strands of Naruto's hair framed his face and swooped outward slightly in the back. Then she took the two pigtails that she put the long strands in and curled each one.

"There," Sakura said once she was done. "You look so pretty."

Naruto examined himself in the mirror. It was still so weird seeing himself as a girl, but even he had to admit that Sakura did good work. "Thank you Sakura."

"Never mind that," Sakura grinned. "Let's go show Sasuke what his new wife looks like today."


	54. Chapter 54

If anyone ever asked about Naruto's sexy no jutsu, Sasuke would be the first to tell everyone how stupid it was. That jutsu was the one out of all of Naruto's jutsus that Sasuke thought was completely unnecessary, but not for the reason that most people would think. Sasuke always thought it was unnecessary because he always believed Naruto was much more attractive as a man than a woman. Naruto had all the right curves to look feminine already and they were just completely ruined by the totally idealistic views of the perverted man. Most of the pictures that Naruto used to create his jutsu, Sasuke knew, were actually edited so they could look like that. No woman actually looked like the girl that Naruto always created so every perverted man always swooned over his female form, but Sasuke could just never get over the fact that it all looked so fake. Naruto was not a fake person.

However, he would not deny that Naruto looked beautiful in women's clothing. No, he would deny that. He would not deny the fact that Naruto was simply beautiful no matter what he wore. It had been different to see Naruto in a kimono yesterday and now he couldn't wait to see what his "wife" would wear today. Naruto was beautiful everyday, but he wouldn't deny that he was enjoying seeing the boy in kimonos for the short period of time that they were going to be doing this mission.

"Here she is," Sakura said with a smile as she opened the door to reveal Sasuke's new wife to him.

"Amazing," Sasuke spoke without thinking, but he wasn't going to take back that truthful comment for the world. Especially not since it brought out such a cute blush on Naruto's cheeks.

"Thank you," Naruto said as he messed with the edge of his sleeve. He wasn't used to being called beautiful, but what was really making him blush was the fact that the man that he loved was the one who kept complimenting him.

"I almost don't want to take you out today," Sasuke said with a joking sort of half-smile. "Maybe we should spend our first day as a married couple here in the hotel room."

"Sasuke!" Naruto giggled even as he tried to make his voice sound totally disapproving.

Sakura giggled as she watched the playful banter between them. The two of them so rarely got to actually play around like this anymore with all the responsibilities that they were forced to take care of now. She was able to find some time to let go and just be herself around Ino, but Naruto and Sasuke were much too busy for that. Sometimes she thought that maybe she shouldn't be allowing herself to relax when they weren't able to, but she knew there was nothing that she could do to help them. Her responsibility was only to be there to help them on their mission. Their's were much more important. Naruto had to save the Konoha from a future in which it would be destroyed and Sasuke had to protect Naruto. Both of those allowed little room for any sort of relaxation or fun so these short moments that they were able to wind down and just be themselves were always enjoyable for the whole party.

"Fine," Sasuke smiled as he wrapped his arm around Naruto's waist and led him to the door. "If you insist on leaving this room to go eat, then I shall take you. I wouldn't want anyone to sweep you off your feet while you're away from me."

"Because that's totally going to happen," Naruto rolled his eyes even as he continued to laugh.

"The coach is ready to take you wherever you want to go," Kakashi said from outside the room. He had left before Naruto even came out from getting dressed and was just now returning.

"Thanks," Sasuke smiled, but it wasn't the same as the smile that he gave to Naruto all the time. It barely reached Kakashi before Sasuke was back to staring at his beautiful bride. "Are you ready to go my love?"

Naruto's blush returned once again while Sakura did her best not to squeal at how absolutely cute her two best friends were.

* * *

The ride to the restaurant wasn't long, but it took sometime since the place was in the middle of the city and they had to make there way through many walking people. It took so long that Naruto's stomach began to growl just in time for Sasuke to finally give up and just get out to walk the few feet that it would take them to get to the restaurant. Its not like they didn't have the strength to do so and they were both much too hungry to wait on something that they didn't even think was necessary. He quickly slipped out of the coach despite Kakashi's protests and then turned around to lift Naruto out and began the walk to the restaurant knowing that Sakura would follow while Kakashi found a place to park the coach.

"Wow!" Naruto said excitedly as they walked into the place. It was expensive because they were trying to show off how much wealth Sasuke had so that they would be more of a target and Naruto had never really gone into an expensive restaurant. Technically, he had the money to do so whenever he wanted with his inheritance and all the money that he earned and saved from working as a ninja, but he had a full house to take care of and the expensive tastes of the high class weren't anything that he found really necessary to indulge in. "It's amazing!"

Sasuke grinned and pulled Naruto even closer to him so that he could smell Naruto's scent. "Yes you are," he replied easily. He had been forced to keep all of the compliments that would give away his affections for so long that now they were all built up and spilling out of him at any moment. Not that he minded by the way that Naruto blushed with each extra compliment afforded to him.

"Oh how cute!" the hostess in front of them said. "Are you two newly weds?"

"Yes," Naruto said with the brightest grin. "I'm the luckiest girl in the world."

"Then I must be the luckiest man in the world," Sasuke replied without even looking over at the hostess.

"Aw!" the hostess practically squealed. "I'll show you to a seat for just the two of you."

"Excuse me," Sakura interrupted. As much as she would rather let them have some much needed privacy, she had to keep up her appearance as a body guard and in order to do that she needed to be able to see them at all times. "Me and one other person are Uchiha-sama's bodyguards and we must be able to see them."

"Oh!" the hostess seemed at a loss for a moment, but when neither Sasuke nor Naruto denied Sakura's claim she decided to find them a seat where their bodyguards could still see them. She wound up sitting them near the window where everyone could see them.

"Everyone is going to be so jealous of me," Sasuke said as the reached across the table and allowed his hands to caress a lock of Naruto's hair. "I have the most beautiful woman in the world as my wife."

"You know," Naruto said as the blush that seemed to be ever-present right now deepened. "If you keep saying stuff like that, I'm going to believe."

"Believe me," Sasuke responded sincerely. "It's all true." Well at least it would be if he were actually able to have Naruto as his own.

"You are too kind to me," Naruto said.

"Never."


	55. Chapter 55

"Hey Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said under her breath. "Did you notice that guy?" The man that she was speaking about was seated behind Kakashi, but she knew that her sensei had noticed him the moment that he had walked in and gotten a seat with the perfect view of the lovely couple. She could see how the man would easily be missed in any other circumstance as he looked like any other unassuming man, but, being a ninja, Sakura noticed the muscles that he was hiding under his baggy shirt and the hungry stare that he was directed straight at Naruto. Both Naruto and Sasuke had also noticed the man watching them and had imperceptibly gotten closer and closer with every passing moment of the man watching them.

"He noticed them from outside," Kakashi nodded with his trademark smile, "and then followed me in here."

"He keeps glancing at us too," Sakura pointed out.

"He's looking forward to the challenge of taking Namiko right out from under our noses," Kakashi explained using the extra precaution of using Naruto's fake name just in case the man could hear them even though he highly doubted that he could.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Sakura frowned.

"We'll just have to wait and find out," Kakashi shrugged. "I don't think he'll move at this very moment. We're safe for now."

"Well I hope he comes soon," Sakura said. "I don't know how long they'll be able to last." Sakura looked worriedly at her two best friends as they looked for all the world like they had absolutely no cares.

"I'm sure that they can act through this," Kakashi shrugged.

But it wasn't their acting that Sakura was worried about. She knew both Naruto and Sasuke well enough to know that this whole acting thing was actually hurting them. It was like dangling candy in front of a baby without letting it have it. They could see exactly what they wanted, but they knew, or at least they didn't think, that they could actually get a hold of it. Sakura was worried about what kind of affect that would have on the two of them. It could be that they just got over themselves and confessed, but she feared that it would turn out so much worse than that.

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke stayed at the restaurant for an entire hour before they finally decided to go. They had a great dinner and Naruto actually convinced Sasuke to share a chocolate cake with him even though Sasuke only ate one or two bites and they just generally had a good time despite the eyes that they could feel watching them. The only reason that they chose to leave when they did was because the waiters were beginning to look at them with that look that said they really needed them to leave to make room for other customers but they didn't want to have to kick them out. Sasuke left an extra large tip since they stayed for so long.

"I'll go get the coach," Kakashi said as they made there way out of the restaurant.

"Can't we stay a bit longer?" Naruto tugged on Sasuke's arm pleadingly. "I want to walk around a bit."

"You heard her Kakashi," Sasuke smirked and Sakura had to hold back a grin. "We want to walk around a bit."

"Of course," Kakashi nodded completely unaffected. He could care less whether or not he went to get the carriage really. Besides, he should have known that Naruto's inquisitive nature would want to look around the heart of the city that they were in at the moment.

"Just be careful Namiko-sama," Sakura said as any good bodyguard would for her charge. "We don't want you to fall and get hurt."

"I won't fall," Naruto smiled, but even as he said these words the shoes that he clearly still weren't used to tripped him up and he would have actually fallen if he hadn't have already been on Sasuke's arm. "See," he grinned. "I told you I wouldn't fall. Sasuke wouldn't let me fall."

"Never," Sasuke replied.

Sakura grinned happily at the couple, albeit a very tame one so as not to arise any sort of suspicion about how close she was to them, and allowed them to walk on without any more interruption from either her or Kakashi.

* * *

Naruto wanted to look into every store that they passed. They went to so many different stores that even Sasuke's love of the man was just barely stopping him from ruining Naruto's fun and stopping the expedition from sheer annoyance. Kakashi was even more so ready to end it all because he was the one who was forced to carry all of the things that they bought on their trip. They didn't really buy much, but Sasuke bought practically everything that he though Naruto really wanted even though Naruto never asked for anything. By the time their shopping trip was coming to an end, Kakashi's arms felt like they were getting ready to fall off and he was wishing that he didn't have to pretend like he was a regular bodyguard with no ninja abilities so he could just shove all that stuff into a scroll to carry around. He had also thought about loading some of it onto Sakura, but every time he looked over to do just that she was doting on Naruto in the way that any lady's bodyguard should and he couldn't just hand the packages off to her when she was doing that. He had the sneaking suspicion that she was just doing it so that they could

Naruto was finally satisfied after hours of walking around and everyone had to hold back a sigh of relief as they made there way back to where Kakashi had left the carriage. If Naruto hadn't looked so happy throughout the whole walk, they probably would have ended it much sooner, but he looked much too delighted for them to even attempt to end his fun so they were very happy when he ended it himself.

However, on their way to the carriage, some shouting distracted Naruto. The group turned to find that the man who had been watching them in the restaurant, and then followed them throughout their whole shopping trip, stopped by a boy who was around their age.

"Give her back!" the boy screamed. Their stalker said something in return, but he was too far away for anyone to hear. "I know it was you who took her! Now give her back!"

"Sasuke," Naruto said under his breath in a worried tone. _"Go and stop them from fighting before this escalates."_

"_What is it Naruto?" _Sasuke asked through their connection even as he made his way over to stop them. Sakura found herself with a load of packages as Kakashi followed his charge over to the fight.

"_I think that he might be a Jinchuriki," _Naruto replied.

"_The stalker?" _Sasuke asked.

"_No," _Naruto replied. _"The other guy."_


	56. Chapter 56

It didn't take long for Kakashi to retrieve the carriage, but immediately after he pulled up next to his team Sakura climbed up and took the steering from him. "We're still being watched," she said in his ear as a way of explaining herself. He nodded. He had noticed that the kidnapper actually hadn't gone very far when he left. He was far enough away that he couldn't hear their conversation, but he was close enough that he could still see them. It would probably be better for him to have his hands free if the man decided to attack them.

Naruto ushered the little boy into the carriage before turning to Sasuke. "I'm actually a bit tired," he said. "Do you think that we could just drive around a bit before going back to the hotel room?"

"Of course," Sasuke nodded with his own loving grin on his face before helping Naruto into the carriage. "Anything that you want."

"_I'm driving," _Sakura said inside both of their heads as Sasuke followed Naruto.

"_Good," _Naruto replied. _"Don't lose the kidnapper. We want him to find out where we are sooner rather than later so that we can stop this."_

"_You got it," _Sakura agreed.

"So," Naruto said out loud. "It's nice to meet you Gobi."

"I'm honored to meet you as well," Gobi nodded. "It's been a very long time since I've spoken to your predecessor."

"It's been a long time for all of us," Naruto agreed, "but I've been gathering everyone up for a reunion."

"Is there any particular reason for this reunion?" Gobi asked suspiciously. The last time all of the jinchuuriki were together in one place had been long before he even became the Gobi, but he had all of the memories of that horrible time.

"We're being hunted," Naruto replied. "Have you heard of the Akatsuki?"

"Yes," Gobi nodded. "That's why my sister and I came here. We were hoping to hide here, but then that man took her. She couldn't risk fighting back or the Akatsuki would probably be tipped off to where we are."

"Is she your sister?" Naruto asked. "Or is she your host's sister?"

"My sister," Gobi clarified. "Her host didn't even know my host before the two of us introduced them to each other."

"Well at least they stuck together," Naruto smiled. "It would have been a lot harder on you and Rokubi if the two of you had been separated."

"I wouldn't have let us be separated either way," Gobi growled.

"Where is your host anyway?" Sasuke cut in.

"Why should I answer that?" Gobi growled. He didn't like this random human cutting in as though he was better than him.

"Because we want to make sure that he's okay," Naruto replied. "We'd also like to introduce ourselves if that's okay."

"I didn't force the take over," Gobi said defensively. "He let me take over so that I could save his girlfriend."

"Did his girlfriend get taken too?" Naruto asked.

"His girlfriend is my sister's host," Gobi replied.

"Well that's gotta be weird," Naruto blurted out without even thinking.

Gobi stared at him for a long moment before bursting into a short fit of laughter. "You are very similar to your predecessor," he said once he regained his control, "always making light of everything."

"We'll get her back, though," Naruto promised. "That's why we came here. And then we can take both you and Rokubi back to Konoha so that we can help protect you against the Akatsuki."

"Isn't that a little risky, though?" Gobi asked. "You're gathering all of the Jinchuuriki in one place. Won't that make it so that the Akatsuki focus all their forces on that one place?"

"Don't worry," Naruto smiled. "I've got a plan."


	57. Chapter 57

"Finally!" Naruto exclaimed when they arrived back at their hotel room after dropping Gobi and his host off at their house. "We're back and we can relax."

"Only for a little while, though," Sakura smiled. "We have to get the both of you ready for dinner."

"What?" Naruto whined. "Why? Can't we just have a night in?"

"You're the one who wanted to get this whole thing over with sooner rather than later," Sakura reminded him. _"Besides, I know you want to get those jinchuurikis back to Konoha as soon as possible." _"We're only going to stay long enough to get you changed and then we'll be going out to dinner."

"Sakura," Naruto protested. "Sasuke tell her that it's not fair."

"It would be an honor to take you out tonight Naruto," Sasuke responded with a smirk.

"No fair," Naruto pouted.

"What do you think Sasuke," Sakura continued, "should we continue to go traditional or do you think something modern for your lovely wife to wear to dinner?"

"Traditional," Sasuke answered immediately. "Namiko looks fantastic in anything, but I love her in a kimono."

"You guys are ganging up on me," Naruto whined even as he allowed Sakura to push him into the room.

Sasuke smiled as he watched the door close behind them and it was only then that he noticed that Kakashi was also laughing too.

"I will never understand you three," Kakashi said as he took out his Icha Icha Paradise when he finally got over his laughing fit. "Sometimes you guys act so old that I forget that you're still just gennin and then you have moments like this where I finally see you guys having fun. You don't do it enough."

"You're still suspicious of us then?" Sasuke asked with his eyebrow raised.

"Of course," Kakashi nodded. "How could I not be when you three are obviously planning something behind our backs? But now I'm more concerned than anything. You guys spend so much time worrying about your mission that I don't think you ever even attempt to just have fun. It's not healthy for kids your age."

"Sometimes I really hate moments like these," Sasuke divulged, "because I know that soon we will have to go back to concentrating on our mission. Every moment that we spend playing around is another moment that could lead to our failure. Everything that we have sacrificed until this point will be for nothing."

"I think that's the most honest that you've ever been with me," Kakashi said somewhat astonished. "Is this a day of sharing?"

"No," Sasuke shook his head. "We've come this far. Just let us do what we need to to finish our mission."

"It might be better for you guys to let more people in on this top secret mission," Kakashi tried. "What will you do when it comes to the end and you fail? Or worse, someone dies."

"I love Naruto Kakashi-sensei," Sasuke replied, "so I won't ever betray his trust even if it is to save his life. Never again."

"I understand how you feel," Kakashi sighed. He would have said something more, probably went off on some sort of lecture about how that sometimes it was necessary to betray someone in order to protect them, but he was interrupted when a kunai was suddenly stabbed into the object nearest to Sasuke.

"You don't know anything," Sasuke growled, "so don't pretend that you know us. You haven't even tried to really get to know us. The only thing that you've been worried about is trying to get in on our mission, but that's not going to happen so just give it up."

"I will find out what's going on," Kakashi responded in his own nonchalant way in an attempt to diffuse the tension that was suddenly resting on Sasuke's shoulders while also reassuring him that he would do as he said and hopefully protect them from themselves.

"By then it will already be to late," Sasuke shook his head.

* * *

"What's wrong Naruto?" Sakura asked as she worked on his hair.

"Kakashi-sensei is digging again," Naruto sighed.

"He's not going to stop you know," Sakura replied. "As much as I hate to say this, he does care about us and he wants to protect us."

"I don't want him to get hurt," Naruto said.

"You can't stop everyone from getting hurt, Naruto," Sakura shook her head. "In the end we all suffer and we all die, but isn't it nice to have a little fun along the way."

"I'll protect them Sakura," Naruto said determinedly. "I'll protect them all."

"Not just you, Naruto," Sakura responded as she hugged him from behind. "You're not alone. Sasuke and I will always be by your side." Sakura had to hid her face in Naruto's shoulder after that because she could no longer hold back her tears. She was well aware that Naruto was hiding something from her and she didn't think that she really wanted to know what that something was, but she was more afraid of it than she could be of anything else because she knew that whatever it was would eventually destroy Naruto.

"I'm sorry Sakura," Naruto sighed. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"I'm fine," Sakura shook her head. "It's nothing. Just promise me-" but she never finished the request because the moment she looked up, Sakura could see that whatever promise that she asked for would go unanswered and she didn't think she could really handle that right now.

"Let's get this mission over with," Naruto smiled encouragingly. "Maybe if we can finish this mission soon, we'll be allowed some time off."

"Promise?" Sakura asked.

"I promise," Naruto smiled.

"It's a deal then," Sakura nodded and held out her pinky, which was immediately seized by Naruto's own pinky for a pinky swear. "Let me just put the finishing touches on everything and then you'll be already for your date."

"I wish," Naruto laughed. "If only actual dates went this smoothly."

"You've just never been on a good date before," Sakura scolded. "I bet a date with Sasuke would go so smoothly that you wouldn't even get nervous."

"Like that's ever going to happen," Naruto smiled and neither of them was really certain if he was talking about his not getting nervous or going on a date with Sasuke, but neither chose to comment.


	58. Chapter 58

Sorry guys, I just now realized that this chapter wasn't finished for some reason or another. I'm updated it so now it's actually finished. I hope you guys like it.

* * *

The restaurant that the four of them went to was practically a ballroom. There were tables placed strategically around a dance floor so that everyone would have enough privacy to eat. The music that was playing was obviously meant for couples to dance together and the floor was filled with people who were swaying back and forth to the music. Naruto liked it. It was so calming compared to the rest of their crazy lives and it was nice to sit like this.

Unfortunately, not long after they had entered the restaurant, the man that they were hunting followed them in and he hadn't stopped staring at Naruto since. More than once, Naruto thought for sure that he was trying to get his attention, but he stubbornly ignored the man in favor of being lost in the conversation with his newly wed husband. He was actually glad that he was able to go with that as an excuse because he really didn't want to know what sort of perverted glances that man would send his way if he were to look over and "notice" him.

"_That guy is really starting to give me the creeps," _Naruto said to his friends.

"_I really want to punch him right now," _Sakura responded immediately.

"_What's he doing?" _Sasuke asked as he was sitting with his back towards the man and he couldn't turn around to face him without being conspicuous.

"_I'm trying really really hard not to look at him right now," _Naruto replied. _"So I don't actually know."_

"_You guys really don't want to know," _Sakura said. She had a clear view of him from where she sat and she was having a hard time not gagging at all the perverted and lewd things he was trying to do to get Naruto's attention. She was actually surprised at how disgusting the guy was. She totally thought that he was going to be one of those perverts who are totally shy in public, but this guy seemed totally sure of himself. _"It's totally disgusting."_

"_That just makes me feel a whole lot better," _Naruto had to suppress a shiver. _"I can't wait 'til we put that man behind bars or something."_

"_Maybe Sasuke should go to the bathroom to leave an opening for the man to get to Naruto," _Sakura suggested. Sasuke had to force himself not to tense up as he readied himself to respond with a most emphatic no, but Sakura continued before he could. _"Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on Naruto and make sure that the guy doesn't do anything to harm him. If I have to I can physically intervene since I am Naruto's bodyguard."_

Sasuke sighed, but relented and, with a small kiss to the corner of Naruto's mouth that made him blush, excused himself to the bathroom with Kakashi following immediately behind as any good bodyguard should.

The man stood up almost immediately after Sasuke made his way into the crowd. He didn't even wait for Sasuke to disappear into the bathroom before he was standing right next to Naruto. "Hello love," he said as those he and Naruto had known each other for some time now.

"Do I know you?" Naruto asked nervously.

"Not yet love," he leaned over, "but you will soon." Naruto had to suppress another shiver as he leaned away from the man. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sakura getting up to intervene. This one interaction was all that they needed to encourage the man to try to capture Naruto and neither of them were really keen on allowing it to go any further. "Let's dance," the man said as he grabbed Naruto's wrist in a vice-like grip and yanked him out of his seat.

"Let me go," Naruto pulled on his arm, but he knew that he couldn't actually break free without giving himself away. _"Where are you Sakura?" _he asked.

"_He has a partner," _Sakura responded, _"and he's getting in my way."_

"What the hell are you doing with my wife?" Sasuke growled as he stormed up to them. Both their target and Naruto jumped as neither of them had noticed Sasuke's return, but Naruto couldn't have been more grateful as Kakashi broke the man's grip on him. Almost immediately after, Sakura was there too as the accomplice allowed her to get by.

"Oh she won't be yours for long," the man said. "I'm going to have her all to myself." He reached out to touch Naruto's face, but Sakura stepped in front of him. The man only gave one last devious smirk before he turned and left the restaurant.

"Thank god," Naruto said as he sank into whoever was closest to him, which happened to be Sasuke. "That man gave me the creeps."

"Come on," Sasuke growled barely able to hold in his anger at the man for touching Naruto. "Let's go back." Without another word he steered Naruto right out of the restaurant, leaving Kakashi to pay.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked as Sasuke handled him a little more roughly than he was used to. It's not like he couldn't handle it, but Naruto could tell that meant that something was wrong with him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Sasuke hissed.

"You're obviously not," Naruto pointed out. "Tell me what's wrong."

"Fine," Sasuke stopped dead in his tracks to face Naruto. "I'm mad as hell. How dare that guy touch you! How dare he think that you could ever belong to him! You're mine. You hear me? Mine!"

And that was the wrong thing to say because the moment that it slipped out of Sasuke's mouth he had a painful handprint on his face and Naruto glaring up at him angrily. "I don't belong to you," he hissed. "I don't belong to anyone." Then he walked away and Sasuke couldn't do anything but stand there and watch him go.

"Naruto!" Sakura called after him as she ran to catch up. "You know he didn't mean it like that," she tried to calm Naruto's anger, but when she caught up it wasn't anger that she saw on Naruto. He looked totally depressed.

"I know he didn't," Naruto sighed dejectedly, "but that's the problem."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"He says that and it hurts so much because I want it to be true so badly," Naruto muttered, "but I know that its not and it never will be."

"It could be," Sakura tried. This wasn't a conversation she was expecting to have right now, but she would go with it if it was a chance to get the two of them together and make them happy. "You could be his."

"I can't do that to him," Naruto shook his head.

"Why not Naruto?" Sakura asked. "What's going to happen if the two of you get together?"

Naruto looked up and Sakura froze. She didn't know what that look meant, she had never seen it on the other before, but she knew well enough to know that whatever it was had to be horrible.

"It's nothing Sakura," Naruto sighed as he shook his head to clear his mind as they made it to the hotel. "Let's just leave it for now." _"We're being followed."_

_"What do you want me to do?" _Sakura asked.

"Just let me have some time to myself Sakura," Naruto shook his head.

"Are you sure?" Sakura asked in a worried voice.

"I'll just be in my room," Naruto nodded. "I'm sure you'll hear if anything happens."

"Alright," Sakura nodded as she opened the hotel room door. Naruto immediately went to his room and Sakura went to the living room where she knew were the least amount of weapons for her two attackers to get her with. If she could inconspicuously knock one of them out, they could interrogate him while the other took Naruto to find the other girls that had been kidnapped. Hopefully she could get the disgusting one so he wouldn't be able to get anywhere near Naruto.

Unfortunately, that man was not one of the two that bust through the door after them. He had, instead, found another way into the room and appeared behind Naruto as soon as he closed the door. _"Ninja," _was Naruto's last thought to his friends before the rag of chloroform that was pressed against his mouth rendered him unconscious.

* * *

I'm really sorry about that guys. I hope you like the finished product.


	59. Chapter 59

AN: Someone brought up a good question about Ino being mentally 12 and Sakura being mentally 20, but I've always thought of the characters as being in their late teens like 16-18. I hope that clears up any confusion you might have.

* * *

Sasuke was not happy at all. The moment that he had heard that their targets were ninjas, he had immediately rushed to their hotel, with Kakashi following close behind, only to find that Sakura had taken out her two attackers but that Naruto was nowhere to be found. "What happened?" he asked Sakura.

"I didn't know there was three of them until I felt Naruto be taken," Sakura explained. "At that point I thought it would be okay to take out these two since the other one has Naruto. I figured that they would be able to tell us where they took the girls."

"They better," Sasuke scowled. He couldn't feel Naruto's presence at all, which meant that there was a jutsu up to hide chakras, and he didn't like not knowing where Naruto was. Especially when he was in a dangerous situation like this.

* * *

Naruto woke slowly. He was on a bed, he noticed almost immediately, but it wasn't the only bed in the room. There were, in fact, several beds spread throughout the entirety of the large room and the all had girls on them. Most of them were talking amongst each other in hushed whispers, but Naruto could still hear exactly what they were saying. They were wondering what he was like and what they were going to happen to them all since so many girls were being taken.

"What's going on?" Naruto asked the girl closest to him.

"I don't know," the girl replied. "I haven't been here that long, but I don't think that these guys have done anything to any of us. They've been taking pretty good care of us, actually, but they won't let us leave this room for anything other than the bathroom and we have to ask for that."

"Ask who?" Naruto asked. The girl pointed at a camera situated in a corner and Naruto nodded. That made his job a bit more difficult, but he could work around it. "What's your name?" he asked.

"My name's Amateratsu," the girl replied.

"It's nice to meet you Amateratsu," Naruto said. "My name is Namiko."

"You're not acting all that scared right now," Amateratsu pointed out.

"I have no reason to be," Naruto leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "I've come here to save you all."

"But how?" her eyes widened.

"I have to find someone first," he replied.

"Who are you looking for?" she asked. "I might be able to help."

"A guy named Katsuro told me he was looking for his girlfriend," Naruto said as he recalled what Gobi had said his jinchuriki's name was.

"You saw Katsuro?" Amateratsu asked. "Is he okay?"

"So you're the one I'm looking for," Naruto smiled. "That was a lot easier than I was thinking it was going to be. Katsuro is fine, but I didn't really get to talk to him since Gobi was doing all the talking."

"You know about Gobi?" Amateratsu's eyes widened.

"Of course," Naruto nodded. "I'm Kyuubi."

"Isn't that like the king of the spirits?" Amateratsu asked.

"Something like that," Naruto shrugged. "I inherited the job when the last spirit gave up his life to save me."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Dinner time," someone called from outside as the heavy wooden door swung open. Naruto studied it intently. It was thicker than a normal door and would have been difficult for any normal man to open, but Naruto wouldn't have much problem with it. There was chakra infused with the door, though, and even though Naruto would be able to break through it either way he knew that it would alert their captors and he had a lot of girls in here to protect and no clue how many ninjas out there he would have to protect them from.

The door opened and carts were pushed in with plates that were promptly handed to each of the girls. Naruto was the last to receive his food, but the moment that it was given to him, the man from the restaurant grabbed his wrist and made him drop all the food. "Who the hell are you?"

"You're hurting me," Naruto whined as he futilely tried to force the other man's hand off of him.

"You're little lady-guard took out two of my team members," he hissed. "You hired ninjas didn't you?"

"I don't know," Naruto cried out as the grip tightened. "Sasuke hired them. I don't know."

"Damn it," he growled before turning to the rest of the men who were still in the room. "We're going to have to leave early."

"But we haven't gotten as many girls as he hired us to get," one of the others said.

"I don't care," he growled. "Start packing up before those other two idiots give away where we are." With that, he wrapped an arm around Naruto's waist and threw him over his shoulder.

"Put me down," Naruto demanded as he struggled to free himself from the other's grip.

"You're already enough trouble for me," the man hissed, "so if you don't settle down you'll regret it. I'm sure he won't be mad if we have one less girl. The same goes for the rest of you little bitches if you try to act up."

* * *

"Where are they?" Sasuke growled to one of the men who had just woken up. The other one was in a different room with Kakashi as his interrogator. Sasuke would have felt sorry for the other man if he wasn't so angry. Instead, he felt that the other man was lucky for not being his charge.

"You'll never find them in time," the man growled just in time to receive a punch from Sasuke.

"He's right Sasuke," Sakura pointed out. "They'll notice that we've captured two of their team and start packing to head out. We don't have much time to get to them before they disappear."

"Fine," Sasuke growled as he allowed his Mangekyou to cover his eyes. "Just know that you brought this upon yourself."

Sakura had to look away. None of them really enjoyed when Sasuke used the Mangekyou, including Sasuke, so they usually tried to use it only at the end of most need, but she couldn't really blame him for doing everything that he could to save the one he loved. Had their situations been switched and Ino been the one to be capture, she would have done the exact same thing.

"Let's go," Sasuke said a moment later as their prisoner screamed out before collapsing into unconsciousness.


End file.
